I rolled my eyes at her. “Plus, I can’t take the time off, either. I’ve got the farrier exam coming up.”
“Christmas, then,” Mom insisted. “You’ll be home for Christmas?”
I couldn’t bear the hopeful note in her tone. “Christmas?” I echoed, raising my eyebrows at Amy. She shook her head frantically. Too damn bad. If she had answered her phone in the first place, I wouldn’t be the one having this discussion to begin with. “Yeah, we can probably fly there for a couple days.”
I refused to call it home.
It wasn’t. Not mine, anyway. He had made that abundantly clear.
Amy glared at me. I turned away but I could still feel the burn of it on my back. “Why don’t you come to Colorado for a visit, Mom? I have a spare bedroom. You could go hiking with Amy. You should see the mountains here. They’re insane.”
“Well, of course we’d love to see your new place, Steven, but you know your dad.”
I did know my dad. He’d never put himself out for someone else. He was too busy, too important, to pause his life and visit ours.
“You could come by yourself,” I pushed, even though I knew better. “Just you. Stay for a week or two.”
Mom gave a startled laugh. “By myself? Oh, I couldn’t do that, honey. Who would make your father’s dinner?”
I ground my teeth so hard I was in danger of cracking a molar. “He’s a grown man, Mom. He can bake a frozen pizza or order takeout.”
“Now, you know I won’t stand for that ungrateful talk,” Mom said sharply. “He provides for me, and I’m happy to do my duty and provide for him.”
I thunked my head against the oak cabinet, the first time for punishment and the second to teach me a lesson I seemed slow to learn. In theory, there was nothing wrong with what she said. That kind of partnership could work just fine if both people in it respected each other.
And that was the problem.
Mom loved being a homemaker, and she valued the work. My issue was that Daddidn’t.There wasn’t a damn thing she did that he was grateful for. Every cent she spent, he reminded her where it came from. But somehow when it came to what she gave him in return, he was entitled to all of it. In his twisted mind, sheowedit to him.
And it still wasn’t enough.
“All right,” I said quietly. “We miss you.”
“I miss you, too, honey. I’ll give your love to Dad,” she chirped because she liked to pretend that life was a 1950s black-and-white sitcom, when in fact, Dad hadn’t spoken a word to me since Amy moved in.
Amy shook her head at me as I hung up.
“What?” I demanded.
“I don’t know why you bother. She’s perfectly happy being his maid with sex benefits.”
“Amy, what the hell?” I nearly spewed my coffee. “Don’tsayshit like that.”
She gave me an unimpressed stare. “Dude. Where do you think you came from? Our parents have sex. Mom isn’t the Virgin Mary.” She pulled a face. “I bet it’s terrible. He seems like the selfish type.”
I dragged my hands down my cheeks. “I am begging you to stop talking.”
“Yeah. I’m grossing myself out, anyway.”
I refilled my mug, then held up the pot. “Want me to top you off?”
“Yes, please.” She nudged her mug closer to the edge of the table and went back to studying her map.
I filled her cup, took note of the way the fresh coffee lightened slightly from the dregs still in her cup, and grabbed the half-and-half from the fridge. “Just cream, or do you want sugar, too?”
“Just cream.” She watched me pour. “That’s good, thanks.”
I headed back to the refrigerator with the cream. When I turned around again, I found her watching me with her chin propped on her palm. “What?” I asked.
