“Yes?” Eula said. A mischievous smile twitched at the corners of her lips. “He was my particular friend back in the day. You remember – the one I was hiking with, when –”
With impeccably bad timing, Ethan’s cellphone started to ring.
He picked it up, intending to end the call – and then he saw the name on the screen.
Ambrose Roan.
It occurred to him that any other person would just have the name listed asDad, but, well, business life came before family life.
But beyond that…
What the hell?!
Why was his father choosing to call himnow, when – when –
“Father?” he said, turning to face the corner of the room, like that would do anything to remove him from the gaze of prying eyes. “Look, now is not a great time –”
“I’m sorry, Ethan,” Ambrose said – before apparently correcting himself. “Son.I’ve been – well, I’ve been an idiot.”
“What?” Ethan said, barely getting the word out of his mouth in his shock. It was the first time in his entire life that he’d heard his father say something evenslightlyapologetic, let alone self-deprecating.
It was bizarre. Even more than that, it wassuspicious.
Had some sort of supernatural creature taken over his father’s body? Was Ethan going to have to solve yet another mystery? He needed a break, dammit!
“You can come back whenever you want,” his father went on. “I… I overreacted.”
Ethan was silent, too shocked to know what to say. And it took his father a moment to gather himself too, apparently, needing a moment after even this small admission of fault. He cleared his throat before continuing.
“I – I only pushed you so hard because I wanted you to succeed and be happy. But I see now… kicking you out was a mistake. I should’ve listened to what you had to say.”
“Father? Are you okay?” Ethan asked urgently. “What’s going on? Are you in trouble?”
“Ambrose?” Eula said behind him, and Ethan almost jumped out of his skin.
“Who’s that?” Ethan’s father asked suspiciously as Ethan pulled the phone away from his ear, his father’s voice clear in the silence that had fallen over the room.
“Itisyou!” Eula exclaimed, barging around the furniture and grabbing the phone from Ethan’s slack fingers. “I’d know that voice anywhere!”
“…Eula?!” Ambrose said incredulously, his voice clearly audible even though Ethan no longer had the phone. “What the hell areyoudoing there?!”
“I could say the same for you!” Eula said cheerfully. “I’vebeen helping out your boy here. The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, I’ll tell you that much.”
“What?” Ambrose said, pure confusion in his voice, and Ethan almost felt sorry for him.
“Anyway, it was nice of you to call and all, but I’ve moved on,” Eula said. “Onward and upward, and all that.”
Ethan was starting to see where Janie got it from.
Ambrose sounded bewildered. “Moved… on?”
“Sorry,” Eula said brightly, and if nothing else, Ethan was glad that this minor fiasco was providing her with a much-needed distraction. “But you’ll find someone else, I’m sure.”
There was a long pause in which Ethan could almostseehis father rubbing at his forehead in consternation, before he said, “Could you put Ethan back on, please?”
“Sure thing,” Eula said. “Catch you around, Amby. I might have moved on, but you’d still be welcome around anytime – for old times’ sake, of course.”
She handed the phone back to Ethan, Ambrose muttering imprecations in the background.
