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Haze
I hang up the call.The screen goes dark. I stand from the cheap hotel bed. Run my fingers through my hair.
At this rate, I’ll be bald, tearing my hair out by the end of the year.
I need to call Liam and confess what I’ve done. Eros has my back; I know he’s not told anyone about my detour from Inverness, Scotland, to New York. He’ll leave it to me to face the music.
I have no idea what the consequences will be, but I know I’ll face them with more courage than I showed today when I left my mom’s house without telling my brother who I am. At least I was strong enough to do the right thing and let Ophelia go.
I pack my things to leave. The ringing of my phone stops me from grabbing my bag. Hope tugs in my chest as I look at the screen.
Is it her?
I recognize the number. It’s not Ophelia. My heart sinks.
I have to clear my throat to answer. “Mom. What’s up?” I lift my hand to my hair, then tell myself to lower it back down. I shove it in my pocket.
She dives right into the conversation. “Look, Harrison. I know I was a shitty mom?—”
“That’s an understatement.”
“Fine,” she sighs. “A really shitty mom. But I’ve had the chance to try again, and I am, Harrison, I am trying. I’m trying my scrawny little ass off.”
I choke back a laugh. As angry as I was at her, I always enjoyed her self-deprecating sense of humor. I say, “I thought you looked pretty good today.”
“Thanks. If you’re being sincere,” she says. “Anyway. I didn’t kill your dad. I know you don’t believe me. One day, I hope to explain the accident, but?—”
“Mom. It’s fine.” It’s not, not really, but I can’t take the pain in her voice. “And it looks like you’re doing pretty good with the kid. Though you really could have chosen a better name.”
She cackles into the phone. “That was all his father.”
“He seems like a good kid,” I offer.
“He is. And you should get to know him.” Her voice softens. “He always wanted a brother.”
Her words change something in me. “I did, too.”
“Come back to the house,” she says. “Get to know him.”
Ophelia is gone. I’m already going to pay for breaking the rules and coming here. She’s offering an olive branch. The right thing to do is to go back and meet with her and Blaze.
It’s too late to do it for Ophelia, but I will be a better man.
For me and for my brother.
I accept. “Okay. But don’t try to feed me any of that wedding soup.” I’m too depressed about Ophelia to eat anything even named after marriage.
She laughs, and then we arrange for me to come by on my way out of town. I hang up, glancing around the hotel room. I pack up the video screen on the dresser first, cringing at the memory of Ophelia’s tear-filled face.
I go to grab the plug from the wall. The screen lights up. I stop.
There’s only one person who would bring that screen to life.
“Ophelia?”
I sink back onto the bed, staring at her. She’s got her hair down and a hoodie on over that sexy bra I made her wear. “Haze.”
Do I hang up? Demand that she never speak to me again, beginning now? I have no desire to do either.