“Yeah. What time?”
“Six?” I suggested.
“See you then.”
“Okay,” I said, and he hung up.
I decided to swing by my parents’ place before work, needing my mother’s invaluable advice. I used my key and let myself in, calling, “Mom!” as I slid off my shoes.
“Kitchen!” she called back.
I dropped my purse on the console and headed back to the kitchen. “Hi.”
She pulled me in for a hug. “Why aren’t you at work, polpetta?”
“I needed to talk to you about Felix.”
“Coffee?”
“Yes, please,” I said, and she made me a cup just the way I like it, grabbing a fresh baked blueberry muffin, and setting it on a plate, then we sat at the dinette table.
“Is Felix having trouble?”
“No. I have found his biological father.”
“This Stoney fellow?”
My mother was not stupid. “Yep.”
“And he wants, what?” she asked.
“Just to be in Felix’s life.” I shrugged. “At least, that’s what he’s said.”
“Do you not believe him?”
“I do. I mean, I think he means it now, but what about in the future?” I blinked back tears. “I don’t know what I’d do without him, Mama.”
“Darling, Stoney seems like a good man. I know he looks a bit rough, which worries me a bit, but he put his life on the line for that boy, and I think we just have to give him a chance.”
“You’re always so trusting of people, Mama. I’m not.”
She smiled, reaching across the table to squeeze my hand. “I simply allow people enough rope to hang themselves with and then I spit on the grave of our friendship if they fuck up.”
I spit out my coffee as I laughed. “Oh my god, Mom, you’re incorrigible.”
She shrugged. “I have my moments.”
“So, you really think I should give Stoney a chance?”
“What other option do you have? If he’s not a good man, your brother will deal with him, if he is, Felix gets a nice father.”
I nodded. “You always make things so simple.”
“It’s my superpower.”
“Thanks, Mama.”
“You’re welcome, meatball number three.”
