I blanch. She’s awful. And yet pointing that out won’t do me any good. So I swallow down my commentary and say one thing I do truly mean. “I’m glad you weren’t alone.”
“Never am.”
A shocked laugh tries to escape me, but I do a brilliant job of choking it back.
“Anyway, I’m calling because I ran into an old friend a few weeks ago. My ex-boyfriend’s sister, actually.”
The uneasiness in my stomach returns. “Huh?”
Clearly not sensing my panic, she babbles on. “Anyway, I looked her up online after seeing her. Her brother has always been the one who got away.”
More like the one who ran away, and for good reason.
“He lives in Boston.”
My stomach drops. Fuck. Shit. Fuck.No.I gulp down oxygen, trying to get my bearings. It could still be a coincidence.
My mother barrels on, totally unaware of the pain she’s leaving in her wake. “Isn’t it a small world? I knew he played hockey there for a while, but I never knew what happened to him after that.” With every word, her pitch gets a little higher. “Now that I know he still lives there, I decided I’d surprise him.”
The hope and delusional belief that this wouldn’t blow up in my face is gone in a flash. “What?” I ask, panicked. “Why?”
She laughs. “Because I want to see him, Savannah. And I can see you while I’m here too.”
Of course. I don’t have enough energy to be bothered by the fact that my mother is finally making a trip out here because of a man, not to see her own daughter.
I shake my head. No way. I’ll talk her out of it. Then I need to figure out if Camden is really her ex.
“Mom—Tara,” I correct. “It’s been decades. He’s probably married with kids by now.”
“He’s not.” The devious laugh she lets out chills my blood. “Even if he was, I guarantee I’d be hotter than his wife. I look far better than most women my age. That was the one good thing that came of having you at nineteen. My body bounced back right away.”
“I’m so glad you found one positive aspect of my existence,” I mutter, standing up.
She sighs. “Stop making everything about you. This would benefit you too. He’s got loads of money, I’m sure. I always told you he’d have made a better dad than your lowlife father.”
I pull my phone away from my ear and gape at it. How in the hell am I related to this woman? It’s mortifying.
“And maybe Camden can set you up with someone on the team. Pro hockey players make a ton of money, and from what I found online, he still works for the Bolts.”
My abdomen spasms and my breakfast threatens to make a reappearance. “Mom, I’ve got to go.”
“Wait—”
I end the call without a second of hesitation. I can’t talk to her right now. God, I wish I never had to talk to her again. But I’m not that lucky. I’ll have to deal with all of this eventually. First, I need to throw up.
When the doorbell rings while I’m brushing my teeth, I say a prayer that it’s not my mother. That would be my fucking luck.
My phone has been blowing up since I ended our call, but I can’t look at it. I can’t talk to her. Honestly I can’t talk to anyone. But I can’t ignore the door either. If Camden checks the camera, he’ll see her standing there, and I don’t know how the fuck to deal with any of this right now.
I can’t imagine Camden will take the news well. But maybe if I explain that I had no idea who he was and that I have virtually no relationship with her, he can get past the shitty details.
With a steadying breath, I head downstairs, taking the steps two at a time. “I’m coming,” I call as the doorbell chimes again.
I swing the door open, and when I find a teenage boy on the doorstep rather than my backstabbing mother, I let out a relieved groan.
“Whoa. Who are you?” the kid says as I slap my hands to my knees and bend in two, sucking in lungfuls of air.
I peer up at him, heart still racing. “Savannah, Cam’s girlfriend. And you are?”
