Since he started seeing River, he’d deliberately avoided talking to her as much as possible.
But now—Jem hadn’t exactly walked a mile in her shoes, but he had the same blisters.
“Hi, Mom,” he said, throat dry, and then she swept him into a hug.
She felt different than he remembered—softer in his arms, like her bones were closer to the surface. She’d lost muscle tone, the way people did when they got older.
Jem hugged her a little tighter. “You didn’t tell me you were coming to the airport.”
“I thought you’d tell me not to.”
She was right. She was also getting his shirt wet.
Finally they pulled away from each other. Somehow his mother still looked pristine, even though Jem felt like a wreck and had a wet patch on his shirt like he’d been lactating.
“Look at you,” she cooed as she stepped back to evaluate him from a distance. “Don’t they have barbers in California? Your hair is so long. Did you take up surfing?”
Jem’s hair barely curled around his ears. “No. Why, do you think I should?”
She swatted at him and took the arm not dragging his suitcase. “Absolutely not. Now, I know you haven’t met your stepsiblings yet, but they’re excited to meet you anyway. Penny volunteered to let Colton bunk with her so you could have his room for the weekend, but there’s a pull-out couch downstairs if you need more than a twin bed—”
Jem’s throat closed and his eyes burned, and then they stepped outside and the humid South Carolina night washed over him like a balm. He’d booked a hotel, but he could cancel it. “A twin bed’s fine, Mom. It’s just me.”
“Just younow,” she agreed, “but is there someone special?”
He should’ve expected that. He was here for his half brother’s wedding, after all. “I’m seeing someone,” he offered. His mom had made a few mistakes raising him, but homophobia hadn’t been one of them. “He couldn’t come this weekend, though. Work commitments.”
Also, part of him thought showing up to your formerly estranged half brother’s wedding with your famous musician boyfriend might be kind of gauche. Andrew and Dana should enjoy the entirety of the spotlight.
“Oh, that’s too bad.” She clicked the fob on her keychain, and the lights flashed as the trunk on a newer-model Honda popped open. “Will I get to meet him?”
He jolted a little as he closed the trunk on his luggage. “I, ah. Maybe.” He’d never introduced his mother to any of his partners before, though that was more about her than any of them. “It’s complicated. He has a… pretty demanding job.”
He bit his lip. Things were never going to be perfect between them. His mom was never going to apologize for keeping the truth from him, and he was never going to fully get over the hurt.
But he didn’t have to hold back from experiencing the good things because of it.
“Maybe if you come out to California,” he suggested. “Bring—bring Paul, if you want, the kids too.”
His mother didn’t ask where they’d stay, or how they’d afford that, or suggest Jem and River visit them. Instead she said, “That would be wonderful.”
Jem’s mom had moved in with Paul—technically his stepfather, but since Jem had never met him in person, he was going with Paul or Mom’s Husband—a few years after Jem left for college. They got married a few years after that.
Logically, he knew that meant she’d left his childhood home. But he hadn’t expected the place she’d moved into.
The house was a raised ranch in an older middle-class neighborhood, with meticulous gardens and overflowing hanging flower baskets on the porch. Jem vaguely remembered his mother mentioning something about Paul working as a supervisor at some manufacturing job.
He didn’t realize until he saw the place that he’d been carrying a lot of worry about his mother being comfortable.
Not now, though; she opened the front door and let him in and suddenly there was a little spaniel winding around his ankles, two kids with teenish-round faces peering over therailing from the living room, and someone in the kitchen making dinner.
Ten years of that weight slipped away, and Jem set down his bags, petted the dog, shook hands with Paul, and waved awkwardly to Penny and Colton—shit, he should’ve met them when they were still in the single digits, he was so much better with younger kids—and it was weird, but good.
It was still early in California, but by the time dinner was over, Jem was wiped out. He thanked Colton again for the use of his room, showered off the airplane, and closed the door with a gentle click.
Colton was about twelve, by Jem’s guess, and his room was in that transition period between kid and teenager. It had dark blue walls and plain striped curtains, but the pillow case had cartoon characters on it. He had a poster of some anime character from one of the popular kids’ shows, but on the back of the door, he had one of the Flat Tires. Jem took a picture of it to share with River, thinking it would make a good joke, and then remembered River didn’t know he was here.
He couldn’t quite bring himself to delete it, though.
