Page 17 of Laid Bear

It should have bothered her how easily he could use such an intimate endearment when they barely knew it other, but it didn’t. It was almost comforting. “It’s okay, I’m pretty much over it.” Even as she spoke the words, Zora realized that wasn’t exactly true. How could one get over a parent’s constant rejection? She was almost certain, Gavin realized that as well, but thankfully he didn’t contradict her.

“So what happened to cause the final rift?”

“They’d pretty much washed their hands of me once I left for college anyway so there’s not really much to tell there. Since I didn’t get out much, I threw myself into my schoolwork and because of that, I was a straight A student. I received a few offers for academic scholarships. I’d never been out of the city, let alone the state, so by the time I graduated high school I was desperate for my first taste of freedom. I chose the farthest college my academic scholarship would cover.”

“How’d that work out for you?”

“Let’s just say too much of anything is bad for you. I experimented with my look quite a bit. I got several piercings and a Mohawk.” Zora giggled.

Gavin briefly took his eyes off the road to give her a quizzical look. “A Mohawk? Really? I would love to have seen that.”

“I had every style under the sun from an afro, to a shaved head.” She tugged on one of her locked strands. “I decided on this hair style because I saw so many men and women sport this beautiful style and I thought I’d give it a shot. It suited me.”

Gavin smiled. “It really does. And I like the color as well. It makes a beautiful contrast to your skin.”

‘Thanks. I dyed my hair every shade of the rainbow until I settled on this color.” She absently twirled a dark gold lock around her finger. “But trying different looks wasn’t where it ended. I partied too much, drank way more than I should have, had some very questionable hook-ups and started neglecting my studies. I got my wake-up call when I was put on academic probation. It’s a good thing my parents were done with me by then because I never would have heard the end of it.”

“Do you think you could have mended things with them had you stayed closer to home?”

She shook her head. “I don’t believe so. They’re very set in their ways, particularly my father. He always said I’d meet a bad end.”

“That’s a horrible thing to tell a child.”

Zora shrugged. “I think in their minds, they did the best they could by me and that was that.”

“So you haven’t spoken to them since you went away to college?”

Even though Gavin was asking a lot of questions, Zora found him quite easy to be open with. Somehow she didn’t mind sharing with him what she’d always found difficult to talk about.

“I would call once a month as a courtesy and the conversation would last less than a minute, usually with my father telling me not to screw up. And then I got into some trouble involving my ex, which got back to them. They contacted me to tell me what an embarrassment I was to them—my father’s words. My mother said she wished I wasn’t born. They told me not to come crawling to them if I got in any more trouble because I wasn’t welcome. That was the last time I talked to them.”

“Bastards. I wish I could have a little conversation with those two.”

Zora shook her head. “It would be no use. Anyway, the incident affected my decision to drop out of school. I was fortunate to get in contact with my nana. She was my mother’s mom and I hadn’t seen her in years, but she and my parents had had a falling out, over me I think. If I remember correctly, when Nana last visited us I heard her and my parents arguing about how I was being raised. She left shortly afterwards and I didn’t see her again until I reached out to her.”

“How did you find her if you hadn’t seen her in while?”

“Before she left, she gave me a gift. A children’s book she used to read to me. I guess the last time she saw me she must have known it would be the last time so after that argument she had with my parents she packed her bag. When we said our goodbyes, she gave me that book and she said to read it whenever I needed her. Sure enough her address and phone number were scribbled between some of the lines in the book. I guess she did it that way so my parents wouldn’t see it.”

“Sounds like a smart lady.”

“Yeah. That books saved my life because when I had nowhere to go I saw that address and prayed she was still at that location. She welcomed me with open arms. My time with her was probably the happiest years in my life. The little town we lived in was the kind of place where everyone knew your business, but people looked out for you. I’ll miss Covington.”

“You could always go back to visit.”

She shook her head. “No, it’s best that I don’t.”

“And your nana?”

“She passed away a few months ago. I sold our shop and the house we lived in to take care of some medical expenses and her burial costs.”

“I’m sorry to hear that, honey.” Again, Gavin reached out to offer comfort, rubbing her shoulder.

“It’s okay. I know she wouldn’t have wanted me to mope over her passing. That’s the kind of person she was. She lived life to the fullest and wanted me to do the same. Anyway, I’m sure I’ve bored you to death about me. What was it like for you growing up?”

“I guess I had what you’d probably call a normal upbringing, if you consider having three fathers normal.”

Zora perked up at the mention of Gavin’s multiple fathers. “Did you have three allowances?” she teased.

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