“We are,” he said. He didn’t need relationship lectures from a woman who married his father and never dated again that he knew of. “And we have been. I brought her to the training facility yesterday and introduced her to Coach and Mike.”
“Interesting,” his mother said. “And what was their reaction?”
“That I was dating someone surprised them,” he said. “They liked her a lot.”
“That’s good,” his mother said. “Do they know about her?”
“You know they do,” he said. “Once I gave her name and said what she did, Mike had the summary of her history in thirty seconds. What she writes, who her family is.”
“What they consider important things,” Casey said, snorting. “Who your family is isn’t that important.”
He let out a noise like his mother had been doing.
“People always want the dirt, Mom,” he said.
“And you swept it up,” his mother said. “Like you always do. You can’t control those things either.”
“I know,” he said.
“What does Emma know about your father?” his mother asked.
“That he is a selfish lowlife drunk,” he said. “He left when Stacy was young and never supported us. That about sums that up.”
He was stunned that Emma hadn’t asked him a million questions after he’d answered her question about who dug at him.
The person who asked him ten questions about the way he made his sandwich didn’t get intrusive into his personal life.
He wasn’t so sure how he felt about that either.
Like serious or deep topics were too much for her and she’d rather stay locked in the places she could create the way she wanted.
“Maybe it’s time you tell her,” his mother said.
“What use is it?” he asked.
“It’s important in your life,” his mother said. “It’s who or what made you the man you are today. Even if what you didwas out of spite, it’s still there. That’s meaningful. If you care for Emma the way I think you do, then she should be privy to those meaningful things.”
He sighed. “I don’t know,” he said. “I’ll think about it.”
“Are you bothered that she is writing rather than spending time with you?”
“That’s the funny thing,” he said. “Not really.”
“Not reallymeans it’s there,” Casey said. “Even if it’s a tiny bit.”
“I can’t explain it,” he said. “She’s in the house and I like to feel that presence. That knowing if I walk into a room, she’s there and she’ll look up and smile at me.” At least he hoped so. She’d done that before when they were together and she was working.
He never expected her to walk away from her work completely. It’s not like he didn’t spend hours a day still training, reviewing notes on his computer, or watching footage too.
But when they were together, she didn’t workasmuch. She was even planning her writing around when he’d be there so that she could get long sessions out of the way.
He saw the effort she was making and appreciated it.
“That is a nice feeling,” his mother said. “It’s hard to do something nonstop.”
“We don’t,” he said. “I’m not that way and have never been like that.”
“You do like to sit and relax. I think it comes from always working your whole life. Even before you were sixteen and at the mini-mart, you were mowing lawns and shoveling sidewalks and driveways. You were doing whatever work someone needed.”
