“I’ll be out in a minute.”She hollers.
“I’m sorry!”I say and I run back downstairs, finding safety in the kitchen.
Twelve minutes later, Mom comes down the stairs by herself.I know this because I’ve been watching the clock, trying to figure out how long it will take her to make up an excuse.She smiles uneasily and I ignore it, taking a gulp of my orange juice and letting the glass slam noisily down onto the counter.I stared at her for a few seconds, eyebrows raised, letting the silence drum into her.I was waiting for her to talk first, but when she didn’t, I lay in.
“Since when do you just bring guys home without telling me?What happened to no one in the house unless we both know them?”I’m angry and she knows it.Mom never breaks our rules.
She tells me about her run in at the shop, that she met someone she hadn’t seen in a long time.“We got carried away and …” she trailed off when I covered my eyes with one hand and held up the other one.
“No.Stop.I don’t want to know, Mom!”I tell her, laughing through my words.“If I tell you I’m not mad, will you spare me the details?”I can’t be mad at her; she literally doesn’t have a love life and she does not need to explain it to her son when she finally gets one.
Mom laughs and then tells me she’s sorry.
“Okay… but someone you used to know?Is it Cody?”I ask, curiosity getting the better of me.
“No.”Mom snorts.“Definitely not.”She puts her arm around me and leads me over to the sofa, where I notice the throw pillows are strewn out of place.
That’s not like her, she’s meticulous about everything being in its place.Whoever this is, has her all mixed up.I sit and then immediately perk up, “You found him, didn’t you?”I smile, hopeful.She doesn’t even have to say a word, the look on her face says it all and I jump up, running toward the stairs.“Dad?Dad!”Mom’s following behind me and I stop, eyes on the stairs as I see him sitting there.He was listening to the whole thing, and he stands when he sees me.The air around me thickens and it becomes hard to breathe.
It’s him.
The guy from the restaurant.
My dad.
I can’t even speak; I don’t believe it.
“It’s true.”His words tell me he’s as shocked as I am and I can’t take it, I run to him, knocking him down til we’re both sitting on the steps in the middle of the staircase.I’m crying and he’s crying, “My boy!I’m sorry.Dylan, I’m sorry I wasn’t here for you.I’m sorry.I wouldn’t have missed it for the world if I knew.”
I hug him and shake my head, “You’re here now.”
“I’ve got you, Dylan.”His head rests on mine and in an instant, Mom is there, hunched over in a group hug on the stairs with us.
This is what I’ve missed all my life.
Chapter Forty-Two
ELLIE
Present Day
We’ve all been so excited about our reunion, taking turns sharing stories, catching Lee up to speed on parenthood, laughing and crying with emotions running all over the place.Until we heard a knock on the door.Dylan got up to answer it and he was taking a while to come back so I wandered over to see who it was.
I saw Carrie and Dylan talking then he turned to me and whispered, “Is it okay to tell her?”
“Of course it is!Come on in, we’ll explain.”The three of us walked back into the living room and her eyes widened with surprise when she spotted Lee on the couch.
“Stop it!Are you for real?”She screams excitedly.
Lee gets up, “You must be Carrie.”He reaches his hand out to shake hers but instead, he’s pulled into a hug.Carrie’s a hugger.He accepts it and hugs her back.
“I can’t believe this is real life, returning from the dead and all…”
“Now, about that.”I cut her off before she can go on, “You can’t tell anyone that Dylan’s dad came back from the dead.In fact, we can’t go around telling everyone that Dylan’s dad is even here, okay?”
She nods and I don’t know if she has even heard a single thing I just said because she’s smiling and staring at Lee like she’s been starstruck.
“Carrie.”Dylan snaps his fingers in front of her face to get her attention.
