Page 163 of Five Summers

She holds my gaze for a moment, and under my intense stare, she answers, “Yes.”

“Where do you live?”

It takes a few more agonizing seconds before she replies, “On the far east of town. The burger place you took me to is just around the corner.”

As I sink back into the chair, I grapple with the harsh reality of how everything has unfolded. That part of town used to be the roughest, a place that both Ace and I would dread during our younger days. And now, it’s the very place where Poppy and my son call home. The mere thought of it nearly shatters me.

My appetite fades away as I push my plate aside, struggling to comprehend how she ended up in such a situation.

Poppy wipes her mouth with a napkin, and all the while, I still can’t wrap my mind around the circumstances that brought her to live in this place.

“Can I ask how you ended up there?" I turn and see her watching me.

“I couldn’t stand living with my mother anymore. She was saying things to Alex that I didn’t want him to hear?”

“Like?”

“It was mostly about you. But where we live isn’t that bad. I have Mrs. B who lives across the hall, and she’s like a grandmother to Alex. She watches him for me, so I don't need to pay for a babysitter when I go to work.”

I sit up straight, resting my elbows on the table and burying my head in my hands. A wave of relentless voices in my head keeps reminding me of the countless mistakes I’ve made and how I always end up hurting those who care about me.

“Xander,” Poppy says, and I lift my head when I feel her hand on my arm. “I did what I had to do. It’s not as bad as you think.”

“I know you did,” I say, hugging her tight, finding solace in the fact that our past is behind us. Whatever she and Alex desire, they can have it all, as everything I possess belongs to them now. I hold onto her a little longer before releasing her, my lips brushing against the top of her head in a gentle kiss.

“So, are you ready to meet your son?” she asks.

A blend of excitement and nervousness surges through my body as I smile and give her a nod.

She takes her phone out and swipes the screen, then presses a few buttons. Holding out the phone for a video call, I hear it ringing.

After three rings, Poppy’s mother’s face appears on the screen. Once she sees me next to Poppy, I see her body language instantly change.

“Hello, Mom, could you please put Alex on the phone?” Poppy says firmly.

I watch in silence as her mother pauses for a moment before she speaks. “Do you think that’s a good idea?”

I can’t help but hear her tone, the same tone she used on me that day when she called me a worthless lowlife and predicted that I would ruin her daughter’s life.

“Please, just put him on. I really need to talk to him,” Poppy says, her tone firmer this time. It’s clear that time hasn’t healed the strained relationship between mother and daughter.

Her mother rotates the phone, placing it on a counter, and for a moment, I think she's hung up until I notice the seconds ticking away on the screen.

Poppy gives me a smile. “Are you ready?”

I nod, my heart beats frantically in my chest at the thought of meeting my son.

The phone turns around, but it’s not Alex, it’s Poppy’s mother.

“You shouldn’t be doing this, Poppy,” she says.

“Just put him on, Mom.”

Her mother continues to gaze at Poppy through the phone, and at that moment, I notice a small face appearing in the corner of the frame. It’s as if he’s curious to see who his grandmother is talking to. As soon as my eyes meet his, I am overwhelmed by the sight of a little version of myself with those same dark eyes. My heart begins to race so intensely that it feels like it might explode from my chest.

“Mommy,” he says, in his sweet voice and accompanied by the biggest smile.

A warmth washes over me, unlike anything I’ve ever felt before.

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