Page 57 of Spiral

“You expecting someone?” he asks, peeking his head out of my doorway and into the hallway.

“It’s probably just a drunk Jonah that forgot his key again,” I reason, groaning as I rise from my bed for the first time in hours. “I’ll get him.”

The house is quiet and dim as I venture downstairs – rare for a Sunday night after the game. Typically, Jonah brings the entire stadium back to our apartment for an all-night after-party. But, thankfully, one of our linemen happens to have a birthday this weekend, so Danny and I have the house to ourselves.

I swing open the door, arms strained and ready to catch Jonah's full, inebriated body weight.

“Hi, Henry.”

“Mom?”

She steps through the doorway, shrugging off her coat as if her presence in my house is perfectly natural.

“What are you doing here?” I press, shutting the door and stepping in front of her, blocking her entrance into the living room.

“I’m here to visit my son. I drove all the way from Dallas to do that, Henry – and I don’t intend to leave until you talk to me.”

“Mom–”

“It’s been two years since you’ve picked up a phone call from me, Henry. We need to just cut to the chase here. Will you ever forgive me for moving forward?”

A lump rises in my throat as she speaks. I’ve never broached the subject of my father with her – not since his death. I never got to speak of him, mourn him. She never even gave him a funeral. My hero died, I moved to University Station for college, and then she married Donald and betrayed our family and my father’s legacy. End of story.

“There’s nothing to forgive. I’ve moved on – without you.”

My voice breaks slightly, to my dissatisfaction.

Man up, Henry. It’s been years.

“You don’t really feel that way, Henry. We’re all we’ve got. We have to make the most of our time together. That’s what your father would have–”

“Don’t talk about my dad. You have no right to. Not after what you’ve done.”

“Henry, I–”

“Enough, Mom,” I snarl, marching towards the door and swinging it open in front of us. “I want you out of my house – no, out of my life. I’ve let you call, pretending to check in on me or be interested in my well-being, for Sarah’s sake. But enough is enough. You killed Dad all over again the day you married his best friend. He wasn’t even cold yet.”

My words catch in my throat in the final sentence and I swallow hard.

Not now.

She glares at me, her blue eyes brimming with tears as she pulls on her coat.

“I love you, Henry,” she mutters as she steps through the doorway and into the cool, evening air. “I pray that one day you’ll know that.”

34 | Georgia

“TODD’S CALLING!” I whisper frantically as Eleanor helps to clasp my necklace.

“Answer it!”

“Hey, you,” I rasp coyly into the phone, attempting to sound seductive.

Eleanor raises her eyebrows at me and struggles to stifle her laughter.

“I don’t know,” I mouth to her, “I panicked.”

“Hey, sexy lady,” Todd yells into the receiver.

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