Dad’s hug lingered a little longer. “I’m so proud of you, son.”
“You’d better call us! I don’t want to have to chase you down like I do Reggie and Roxi.”
Regina and Roxanne were my older sisters. They were twins and starting their sophomore year of college at the University of Rhode Island.
“I promise I’ll call.”
They exited the double doors leading out of the dorm, and I made my way back to my new pad. Asher sat on his bed, his body rising and falling as he inhaled. “We’re here. I’m so happy,” he said on an exhale.
“I’ll be happy when we learn where to go to have somefucking fun in this place. We should head over to Smithston and join the party.”
Asher nodded in approval. “I’m down. You wanna go now?”
I was about to answer when I noticed Mom had left her set of house keys in our dorm. They must have fallen out of her purse. I scooped them up and said to Asher, “These are my Mom’s. She’ll freak out when she realizes she doesn’t have them. I’ll run ahead and try to catch them before they leave. Meet you out front?”
“Sure thing.”
I bolted to the elevator and pressed the button for the ground floor. The doors opened, and I raced to the parking spot. Relief washed over me when I saw they hadn’t left yet.
I ran up to the passenger’s side window. “Hey Mom, you left—”
Mom was bawling—big tears rolled down her cheeks, smearing her thick mascara. “What are you doing here?” she asked through her sobbing.
What on Earth? Was she panicking over the keys? I held them up and said, “You left these. What’s the matter?”
She wiped the tears from her cheeks, but all she ended up doing was smearing the black mascara into an even bigger mess. “You weren’t supposed to see this!” she gasped out.
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
“What’s wrong?” she repeated. “What’s wrong? I’m an empty nester, that’s what’s wrong! My children are all gone. You were my baby, Teodoro, and now you’re gone too. I have nothing!”
Dad’s head slowly turned towards Mom. “Gee, thanks, Maria.”
“Oh, you know what I mean, you big oaf!”
I pinched the bridge of my nose and said, “Ma, I’m only four hours away.”
“It doesn’t matter!” she wailed. “I’m a nurturer, and I have nothing to nurture. What am I gonna do?”
It was Dad’s turn to pinch the bridge of his nose. “Jesus Christ, Maria, you have a part-time job, you play pickleball every Monday and Tuesday, you host bridge every Wednesday, you’re gonna be fine.”
“My baby is all grown up!” Mom’s head fell into her hands, her body shaking as she wept.
Dad waved me off as he rolled his eyes. “Go have fun. She’ll be fine.”
He started the car, and they pulled out of the parking spot, driving off. I turned back toward the dorm to see four other middle-aged ladies openly crying as dismayed-looking eighteen-year-old dudes waved them off.
Good God.
Asher stood just outside the double doors to the entrance, and I walked over and pulled him into a hug with one arm. “You ready to do this, Red?”
He just laughed, and the two of us walked over to Smithston.
Chapter 7
Asher (December, freshman year of college)
“Lachlan! You’re in!”
