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“Not cool.”
“Aw, come on, kiddo. We have two whole days. Ditch school, and I’ll make it worth it.”
“Deal.” I finally let him go and stepped back a foot.
“But first, we get through this dinner,” he said under his breath, low enough that psycho-pants, now bouncing in place on the balls of her feet at the bottom of the stairs, couldn’t hear him. I snorted, and he laughed.
“If you say so,” I responded, turning around on my heel and heading back downstairs.
“So, Vegas, I hear? When were you going to tell this to your dear young mother, Jason? You know I can slip you a few cards if you want. My ladies will show you guys a good time.”
“That is the last thing I want,” my brother growled.
“God, Mom,” I cut in. “Some boundaries are not meant to be crossed.” I shot her a glaring look that she simply shrugged off.What was with her today?
“I’m just saying.”
“Well, stop.”
“What is with you today?” She kidnapped my thoughts and turned them around on me.
I sighed, but it turned into a groan. “Well,” I started. Besides the obvious, a lot. I knew telling her what was up with me was a questionable life choice, all things considered, but who else was I going to get answers from? When it came to dating, my mother was an expert. Literally. “I think I’m crushing on Neil, and it’s screwing with my head,” I told her.
“Ahh, boy trouble. You’ve come to the right place.” Her eyes lit up, and I laughed, and just like that, we slipped into an energy far less irritating.
“Hold up. What?” Jason cut through my laughter, staring me down.
“Neil, as in Neil Summers,” I offered.
He visibly relaxed. “Still. I don’t care if he’s the preacher’s son, I’ll beat him to a pulp if he touches you.”
I laughed. “I doubt you have anything to worry about there.”
“Oh, I don’t know,” my mother interjected, and Jason and I both narrowed our eyes at her. I already knew something insane was about to come out of her mouth. However crazy, it wouldn’t surprise me.
“You know I slept with his father in high school,” she said, andno. I was wrong. There was literally no level higher of shocking words she could’ve just said.
“What?!” I smacked my hands down on the table, holding back my laughter. “You’re serious?”
“Yep. I fell for him pretty hard—for a week.” She snickered.
“And?” Jason and I both echoed, wholly invested in wherever the hell this story was going.
“Oh, it was short-lived.” She waved it off with a hand and reached for her fork. “We dated a little, things got heated, I finally convinced him to go all the way, and then he broke up with me the next day.”
“Brutal,” I commented.
“He’d seen the light.” She shrugged. “He felt like what we’d done was horrible and wrong, and then he went on to graduate high school and go straight into priesthood training, or whatever it’s called.”
My brother laughed, and I laughed even harder.
“Holy shit, Mom. You scared him straight,” I said. As soon as I could breathe again, anyway.
“I did.” She smiled, not embarrassed in the slightest. “So, you see, you two? Take note.” She pointed at us both with her fork and finished with, “I’ve done good things for this world, too.”
And then we all broke out into laughter.
As soon as our laughter died down and we dug into our dinners, silence washing over the table, I felt a strange uneasiness creep over me. What my mother had just described was startlingly familiar, I realized, and I didn’t need her answers for what I was feeling anymore.