Zeke: Okay.
Ethan: Heads up, Hannah found a great guy for you.
Zeke: Not again. Do you know what happened with the last one?
Ethan: You went out on a date?
Zeke: They invited him for dinner too and never told me we’d have a plus one. I couldn’t say no to their impromptu double date.
Ethan: What did you do?
Zeke: Nothing. I was myself. The professor couldn’t take a loud musician seriously. Apparently, I’m a neanderthal.
Ethan: Well, there’s another professor. Apparently, he’s hot.
Zeke: Why me and not you? Also, I’ve noticed she keeps introducing me to just guys. I’m not gay. I’m pansexual. Why the obsession?
Ethan: My theory is that she’s trying to make me jealous. I don’t get the matchmaking treatment because I still have commitment issues.
Zeke: I should use that excuse. I need to go. I have to be at the academy in ten minutes before my kindergarteners’ class. Wish me luck.
Ethan: I hope no one else pukes on you. See you tonight.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Ethan
My evening is ruined by two o’clock when my mother calls with an emergency. My grandma is in the hospital. She has a full-blown panic attack that doesn’t allow me to ask what is wrong with my grandmother. I call Zeke to apologize. He doesn’t answer the phone.
“Hey, I can’t make it tonight. My grandmother is in the hospital. Mother wants to be there by tonight. I…” I take a long, deep breath. “You’re thinking that I should let her do this on her own, but I can’t. I guess being a dutiful son is something you can’t erase easily from your making. My mother doesn’t deserve to be alone. Also, Grandmother is almost ninety. What if she dies? Let’s try to do something this weekend. I miss you.”
I borrow Alex’s plane. Maybe the company should buy a jet. It’s not like my executives and I don’t travel often. I set that thought away for now. If not, I’ll spend the next twelve hours researching private jets and pilots instead of focusing on what my family needs.
Five hours later, I’m back in the small town I swore I would never set foot in again. I made good on that promise until my grandfather died four years ago, and I had to come back to take care of the funeral.
Back then, it was painful to be in this town. Not to bury the man who had ignored me for years. The same who told me I was dead to him the day I told my family I liked boys. I’m lucky he didn’t pull out his gun. Unlike Mom, he had good aim. He could’ve killed me.
I hate this place.
I hate my visceral reaction as I leave the jet.
I hate the almost eighty-degree weather suffocating me, just like the memories of this place.
As arranged, my plane arrives at least twenty minutes before my mother’s. I could’ve let her be here an hour before me, but then I’d be dealing with a lecture on how I don’t care about her well-being. I do. However, since I’m her only son, I have an obligation to her—a commitment to do everything she wants me to do.
I wish she knew the relationship goes both ways. She could call to check on me. How about sending me a present when it’s my birthday?
Sadie Hades calls me weekly. She sends me cookies with Hannah every other week. If a woman who isn’t related to me by blood can do it, why not my mother? Mom could call me to ask if I need some fucking cookies.
It doesn’t surprise me that when she sees me, the first thing she says is, “You need a haircut.”
I run a hand through my hair. It’s not long, just long enough that the back reaches the collar of my shirt. “It’s been this way for years,” I respond.
She touches the corner of my eyes. “You could use some moisturizer. My doctor can get rid of the crow’s feet.”
I step away from her reach. Her touch is making me uncomfortable. I’ve seen in movies that this is the moment when you hug because you haven’t seen your mother in a long time. Not us. I want to climb back into the jet and leave.
“Why would I want to do that?” I ask, modulating my voice. It’s too early to start yelling at each other.
“You’re no longer one of the youngest CEOs. You have to keep up.”
I gawk at her. “That sounds like a serious problem. What if I’m no longer young?”
“Your company might go down,” she states.
I glare at her. Has she always been this shallow and…ignorant? The heat threatening to burn my skin doesn’t come from the sun, but the hate I have for this place and maybe this woman.
Why is it that I still want her to love me? To accept me?
“Are you concerned because I might not be able to pay for your big house in the South?”
Her nostrils flare. “Respect me.”
“The car is ready,” Clint announces, guiding us toward the rental.
“You should’ve hired a limousine service,” Mom protests.
“I rather have my bodyguard drive,” I retort.
“I don’t want to fight, Ethan. Lately, you’re either avoiding me or confronting me. I taught you better than that.”
She never taught me to respect her but to fear her. I stop the conversation by calling my assistant. We go through all the meetings we have to reschedule when my mother interrupts me. “You have to stay with me until your grandmother recovers.”
I glance at Mom and say over the phone, “Let me call you later.”
“As I told you over the phone, I’ll be happy to stay with you for a couple of days. At least until we figure out what’s wrong with her,” I remind her with the calmest voice I can use.
“She broke her hip,” she states. “You need to help me with her. I can’t be the only one taking care of her while she’s in pain.”
I glare at her. “A broken hip,” I repeat. Knowing my mother, I can see her pretending to have a panic attack so I wouldn’t doubt that this was a life-or-death situation. She made me come along. I feel suckered punched.
“You want me to stay and take care of a woman that kicked me out of her house when I was a teenager?”
“You were acting up like…” She huffs.
I scowl at her, and maybe this is a great time to come out to her—again.
But I stop myself because what’s the point of doing it when she can use her current state as an excuse to shut me up.
My phone starts beeping. Zeke, Tucker, and Hannah are texting me. Each one asks if I know what’s wrong with my grandmother and if they can help me.
This reminds me that maybe my mother is hurting. Her mother is sick, and she lost her father a few years back. If there’s something I’ve discovered after years of therapy is that I learned to hide my emotions from her. She taught me to steel them and put on a facade for everyone else to see. In a way, I’m the adult in this relationship because I know better. She needs my support.
“Has anyone called you to let you know about her status?”
She shakes her head. “If you had married Lori, she could’ve met her great-grandchildren.”
I drop my head against the back of my seat, take a couple of breaths, and speak. “Can we not discuss her? It’s been over four years.”
“This isn’t about you, Ethan Dean. Look at my life. My mother might die soon, and all I have is…” She pauses and sweeps me from head to toe. “You.”