CHAPTER TWELVE
Tom
“Mom,there’s something I want to talk to you about.” Tom shuffled into the living room, shoulders sagging, head bowed.
“Of course, dear,” Alice said, motioning him to sit on the sofa. “What’s wrong? It’s not school, is it?”
“Not really although that’s a part of it, I guess,” Tom said. He spoke quietly, afraid he might cry or throw up; he couldn’t decide which. He’d finally decided to tell his mom about moving out. But as he sat, he realized this would be much more difficult than he’d imagined. He tried to keep Char’s words in his mind so that he would have talking points at the ready when his mom raised objections.
“You’re not failing anything, are you?” The look on Alice’s face was a mix of concern and anger that scared Tom just a little.
“No, Mom, I’m not failing any of my classes.”
“Well, then, what? You know you can tell me anything.”
“I, um, well … I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about this, and I want to get a place of my own,” he blurted out, waiting for the reaction he knew would come.
“What? Why, Tom? We’ve talked about this,” Alice said. “There’s no rush for you to move. I like having you here. I think we need to talk about this before you make any rash decisions.” She spoke quickly as if hoping to avoid having Tom speak again.
“I know, Mom, but I really think it’s time.” Tom kept his voice calm and even. “After all, I’m twenty-four years old. I want to be on my own.”
“But what about school?” Alice asked. “You can’t afford to go to school and work and have time to study. It doesn’t make any sense, Tom.”
“First of all,” Tom began, “I’ve been saving, and I’ve got a good amount socked away at this point. Plus, I’ve decided to cut back on the number of classes I’m taking next semester so I can pick up some extra hours at the Whale.”
“Next semester? So … you wanna do this soon, huh? Why not wait until the summer? That will give you more time to save.”
“I don’t wanna wait any longer, Mom. I wanna do this now.” As he predicted, his mom was trying to talk him out of it, but the blowup he’d expected hadn’t happened. Yet.
“Wait.” His mom looked directly at him. “Does this have anything to do with that boy you’ve been seeing? I bet Will’s behind this. Trying to get you to move out so you two can shack up together or something.” Shaking her head, she said loudly, “Well, I won’t have it. Don’t even think about it, mister.”
And there it was. He’d expected that to surface a lot sooner. “Mom, it’s got nothing to do with Will. Sure, it would be nice to have a little bit of privacy now and then, I’m not denying that, but I started planning this long before I started seeing Will.”
“Have you talked with him about it, then? That might be just the thing to scare him off. You know it will never work out in the long term between you two. It never does.” Tom sighed, once again hearing the same tired arguments from his mom.
“Mom, Will’s not like that. I know what you think will happen, but just because it didn’t work out between you and Dad doesn’t mean all relationships are doomed to fail.” This was the first time Tom had actually stood up to his mom. And damn, it felt good even though he knew this was a really difficult conversation for them.
“So if it’s not Will, it’s Char, right? She put that bug in your ear,” Alice tried. It was clear she was grasping at straws now. “Now that she and Cee Cee are living together, she wants you to get an apartment too, right? Mark my words, they’ll eventually break up, and then where will she be? Alone, that’s where.”
“Mom,” Tom started, speaking as sincerely as he could. “I want, no, Ineedto do this. I’m sorry if I’ve upset you, but nothing’s gonna change my mind.”
“Fine.” She laughed bitterly. “Leave me. I guess I should have expected this. It’s like I told you, everyone leaves. Now I guess it’s your turn.”
“Don’t say that, Mom. I’m not leaving you. Yes, I’m venturing out on my own, but you’ll still be a part of my life. I’ll come over for dinner, and we’ll still talk all the time.” He tried again. “This doesn’t mean that I love you any less, Mom. It just means that I need to spread my wings a little.”
“Sure. Whatever you need to tell yourself, Tommy.” Alice stood, touched him briefly on the shoulder, and walked into the kitchen.
Tom shook his head. Yes, he had known this was gonna be bad. At some point, he’d need to solicit some advice from either Char or Will. Maybe they could help. But for now, he grabbed his jacket and went out. Hopefully a walk would clear his head.
Tom strolledthrough his neighborhood with no real destination in mind. It was a clear, crisp Sunday afternoon, and he was vacillating between restless and bored. Oh, and anxious.We can’t forget anxious.The conversation with his mom had gone pretty much the way he’d expected. But it had still left him a bit rattled.Why can’t she understand why I need to do this? I can’t live with her forever, dammit!
He pulled his phone from the front pocket of his jeans and began typing.
Hey. Got a minute?
Sure. What’s up?
Any chance you can meet me at Cuppa Joe’s?
