Page 99 of Turn

I’d just decided to crack open my textbooks and do some studying when Cassie called.

“Hi, beautiful,” I said after answering on the first ring. “When are you coming over?”

I knew I sounded overeager but I didn’t care. I couldn’t wait to be with her again. She said she’d be here in a little while. She was baking a batch of cookies for Brecken.

“Don’t I get any cookies?” I wanted to know.

“You can have some cookies,” she said and then she lowered her voice. “Although I had a different dessert in mind for you.”

“It’s a date,” I promised.

“I miss you,” Cassie said and the sound of her voice was sweet music.

“Then hurry up,” I told her. “Because you’re all I can think about.”

After that call it was tough to resume any interest in the books. I was still giving it my best shot when my phone buzzed again. I smiled, thinking it might be Cassie telling me she was on her way but then I saw the number was an international one. I almost didn’t answer, not really wanting to sit there and absorb yet another call full of anguished silence.

But I did answer.

“Mom?” I said.

There was no response, just a faint whistling sound that might have been distant breathing.

“Mom, is that really you? Please talk to me.” I closed my eyes. “I really need you to talk to me.”

There was a muffled sob and then a faraway voice that was as familiar to me as my own said, “Curtis. Oh Curtis, I’m so sorry.”

I thought she’d end the call abruptly after that small breakthrough but she didn’t. The conversation started slowly. I knew better than to ask exactly where she was. I had to tell her about Tristan first and she cried hard over the news. I thought I’d feel anger when this moment finally arrived but now I just felt pity. She was still my mother. And I hadn’t always been a good son to her. She’d suffered a lot of grief over things I’d done in the past and yet I always knew she loved me. I would never understand why she thought it was a better idea to abandon her own children rather than face the consequences of her actions but I wouldn’t deprive her of information about them now that she’d finally reached out. There was more than just bad news. There was good as well. I told her about how well Brecken was doing and about my job and our new apartment. I told her I’d met a terrific girl and I was planning on finally getting my high school diploma.

Before my mother hung up she said something that shocked me. I didn’t know whether to believe it would come true. Time would tell.

I was sitting there blankly staring at the phone, wondering if that call had really just happened, when there was a knock at the door.

Cassie was waiting on the other side and I almost forgot how to breathe when I saw her. She’d gone to some trouble, wearing a sexy blue dress that hugged every tempting inch of her gorgeous figure. I reached for her, cupped her face in my hands and kissed her long and slow.

“I’m so glad you’re here,” I told her.

She’d brought over fresh cookies and ingredients to make spaghetti for dinner. Brecken emerged from his room and sat at the table, silently laughing at me because I couldn’t stop staring at Cassie standing there preparing dinner in her hot little dress.

We ate dinner around the tiny kitchen table I’d scored for twenty bucks at a clearance sale and I decided not to spoil the cheerful mood by mentioning the call from my mother. I was also afraid to get Brecken’s hopes up.

Cassie looked at me questioningly a few times and I realized I was quieter than I’d meant to be while she and Brecken chatted back and forth. I reached under the table and found her knee, leaving my hand there while I finished eating.

When dusk fell and the outside temperature became more bearable the three of us took a walk to a nearby manmade lake where kids hovered at the water’s edge and threw bread to ducks while their parents stood back and snapped photos.

Brecken separated from us a little, wandering a short distance away on his own as he watched the last traces of the sun disappear over the horizon.

I hugged Cassie to me and kissed her. “Spend the night?” I asked.

She hesitated and glanced at Brecken. “Are you sure?”

“Fuck yes.”

She gave me a smile and wrapped her arms around my neck, pulling me in for another kiss.

It was impossible to kiss her without getting hard. It seemed we were getting a little too enthusiastic because Brecken returned and made a crack about inappropriate public displays of affection.

After we returned to the apartment and ate every single one of Cassie’s chocolate chip cookies, Brecken announced he was going to hang out in his room until bedtime.

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