Brantley turned toward the window, smiling as he stared out. “Could you imagine?”
“No,” Reese snapped. “No, I definitely can’t. And don’t try to put images in my head.”
“I wouldn’t dare.” He glanced back over his shoulder. “Seriously. When did you find out?”
“Not until years after he stopped coming around. At least I thought he had.” Reese exhaled. “I was in the air force, home on leave. When I got to my parents’, Toby was there with my mom. Dad had run to the store, I think.”
Brantley turned around, leaned against the wall, and watched Reese as he processed the memory.
“Toby had apparently spent the night.” Reese’s face pinched in a grimace. “He was walkin’ around in his boxer shorts, and my mom…” He shook his head again.
“So youdidcatch them?”
Reese grunted as he flopped back against the chair. “They were kissin’. I lost my shit when I saw them. It wasn’t until my dad came home a couple minutes into my tirade that I calmed down. He tried to explain, but I didn’t stick around to hear it.”
Brantley tried to imagine what that would’ve been like. His parents hadn’t been into that sort of thing, but they had been very intimate throughout his youth. Hell, Frank and Iris had seven kids, so it only made sense, but that hadn’t made it any easier. Avoiding walking in on them had become an art form in itself. And yes, thinking about it still made him cringe. The thought of coming home to find his mom making out with a man who wasn’t his dad … yeah, he couldn’t do it. Hewouldn’tdo it.
“Eventually, I heard my dad out, forcing him to gloss over the details,” Reese continued. “I didn’t understand it, but I didn’t hold it against them. According to my dad, it wasn’t serious. I mean, they weren’t lookin’ to make it a permanent thing between them.”
“And after the accident?” Brantley prompted, hoping to delicately navigate the sensitive subject of Thomas Tavoualaris’s car accident that had ultimately left him in a coma for his remaining years. “Did Toby come around?”
“He did, yeah. He was there for my mom.” Reese’s eyes slammed into his face. “As a friend.”
“Understood.”
“She would’ve seen it as a betrayal,” Reese said. “Hell, my dad was in a coma for years before she ever even considered datin’ anyone else. Then Hugh came along.”
Brantley knew that Cindy and Hugh had been friends first. Cindy had remained faithful to Thomas for the many years he spent in a coma, being cared for by others in a long-term care facility. She probably would still be single if it weren’t for Hugh.
“You should talk to your mom,” Brantley suggested. “Maybe she’s talked to Toby recently. It’s possible she’ll know where he is.”
Reese sighed. “You’re right.” He closed his eyes. “But I’m gonna need a minute.”
Smirking, Brantley slipped out of Reese’s office and headed toward his own. While he found Reese’s pain amusing, at least regarding his mother’s youthful exploits, he did have some sympathy.
Not to mention, he expected to get laid in the near future. The last thing he wanted was to really piss Reese off.
***
Reese didn’t know how much time hadpassed before he finally worked up the nerve to call his mother. Fifteen minutes? Forty?
Not that it mattered. Ten years could’ve passed and he still wouldn’t have been prepared for the conversation currently taking place.
“I haven’t seen Toby in … well, I guess it’s been about a year now.”
“A year?” Reese’s tone was a bit harsher than he’d anticipated. “Does Hugh know about Toby?”
A soft chuckle sounded on the other end of the phone and he was grateful he hadn’t opted to make a FaceTime call. If he had, his mother would’ve seen his face, and right now, he figured it was about the color of a beet because, try as he might, he couldn’t get those images of Toby kissing his mother all those years ago out of his head.
“Of course he does,” Cindy said smoothly. “I’ve told him everything.”
“Everything?”
“Yes,” she said more insistently. “Hugh’s well aware of the fact I had a sexual relationship with Toby while I was married to your father.”
“Oh, God, Mom!” Reese covered his eyes as though that would block out what she’d just said.
“Reese Jacob Tavoularis, you’re a grown man, and I happen to know you’re not a prude, so don’t pretend that you don’t understand.”
