She was right.
I was afraid.
And that pissed me the hell off.
“Okay.” I nodded. “I’m going to fix this. And if it’s too late, I’m going to fight harder.”
She swiped at her face and smiled through her tears. “I love you, Myles.”
“I love you, too, Mom.”
“What are you going to do?” she said, her voice still wobbly from the conversation.
“I’m going to fucking figure it out.”
I pulled out my phone and sent a text message to my brother first.
Me: I need your help. I’ll meet you at the office in twenty minutes. Tell Connor to meet us there, it’s going to take a village.
Samuel: I’ve got you, brother. See you soon.
I paid the bill and walked my mother out to her waiting car as her driver opened the back door.
I chuckled, because this was one fucked-up lunch. “Thanks for the talk.”
“It was years late, but I’m glad we had it. You deserve to be loved, and you deserve to be happy. No more fear, okay?”
I nodded and kissed her cheek. “I’ll keep you posted.”
After she drove off, I walked the few short blocks to the office and dialed Charlie.
“Hey. What did I do to deserve a call? You usually text,” he said with a laugh.
“And you give me those lame one-word answers when I text.”
“When you want to man up and actually ask the question instead of asking bullshit questions about Montana and the renovations, you’ll get more.”
“All right. I’m asking.”
“I’m listening,” he said.
“How is she? Is she dating anyone?”
“She was pretty down in the dumps for a while. Hell, she probably still is. The girl tries to be stoic, but she wears her heart on her sleeve. Hasn’t seemed like herself since you left. But Benji told me she and Violet were there on a double date not too long ago, so I don’t know, Myles.”
“I’m going to fucking fix this.”
“It’s about time you pulled your head out of your ass. Do you have a plan?”
“No. I just know that I’m miserable, and something needs to change,” I said. “But she told me not to reach out to her, and for all I know, she hates me now.”
“You’re no stranger to people hating you, are you?” He laughed, and I rolled my eyes.
“Fuck off. I’m going to fix this.”
“I knew you were a sappy bastard beneath it all.”
“You’re lucky you aren’t standing in front of me right now,” I said, not hiding the sarcasm from my voice.
