ME: Okay. I’ll keep you posted on where we’ll be.
STACY: You’re always welcome here. You know that, right?
ME: I do. But I don’t want to bring this zoo to your house. Plus, you need to just concentrate on the school this week. How’d it go yesterday?
STACY: It looks UH-MAZ-ING! I can’t wait for you to see it.
ME: Me either!
I had just set the phone down when it vibrated again. A call, my mother’s face appearing on the screen.
I slid out of the bed, creeping out of the room, past Brady who was asleep on his stomach, bare-chested, a pair of sweats riding low at his waist and almost making me forget my mom in the desire to join him there.
The vibration persisted, and I slipped out of the apartment onto the landing, sitting with my feet on the first step. I shivered. It was still cold in the mornings even as we moved closer to spring.
“Morning, Mom. What’s up?” I asked.
“Isn’t that really my question for you? You’re all over the news,” she said.
I sighed.
“What’s going on, Tristan?” she asked. “Are you dating Brady O’Neil?”
“Did you know that Brady was Cormac?” I asked.
“Cormac? As in the kid who used to work atLa Musicafor your grandmother?” The frown was apparent in her voice.
“Yep, the one and the same.”
“Brady O’Neil is Cormac?” she said again, stunned, and I laughed.
“At least I don’t feel like I was the last one to find out.”
She blew out a sigh. “That woman had more tricks up her sleeve than a full-on magician.”
The words made me think of the trunk sitting on Brady’s dresser again.
“Yep. Took me totally by surprise.”
“Well, you didn’t look that surprised in the video of the two of you dancing. You looked…” Mom’s voice cracked. “Happy.”
Had I? It was hard to avoid the twinges of guilt that still invaded me at the thought of dating someone new. I’d given my life to Darren. For better, for worse… but death had parted us.
When I still didn’t say anything, Mom spoke again. “Are you happy? What does Hannah think of all this? Are you dating him?”
“Hannah is overjoyed to have someone to play piano with. Molly has already decided she’ll roll over for him when she wouldn’t for anyone but Grams. And me… I’m still figuring it all out, but it feels…” I didn’t know what to say, so I resorted to a partial truth. “It feels good.”
“Dad and I thought we’d come up early if you needed help, but maybe you don’t need as much as we thought,” she said, teasing. I was glad to hear the tease after the tension that had existed for weeks between us.
“I’d love to see you whenever you want to come,” I told her, meaning it. I’d do just about anything to help heal the divide that Grams’ will had left behind in its wake.
She said she’d let me know, and we hung up with “I love yous” in the air.
When I went back in, Brady was sitting up, and Hannah was at the keyboard.
“You look good,” Brady said with a smirk that I couldn’t help matching. His broad chest almost glowed in the light streaming in through the shutters.
“Right back at you,” I said, and his grin widened.
