Page 160 of Time Stops With You

“I missed you so much.” She smacks his bottom affectionately. “I had to come and see you.”

Josiah remembers that he’s eleven and has a reputation to protect because he suddenly shifts away from mom. Eyes darting to his club members, Josiah mumbles, “Mom, you’re embarrassing me.”

“Let me. I flew all the way from Belize to see you.”

Josiah allows her to hug him again but not for long.

My stomach grumbles. I realize I’d skipped lunch.

“Who’s hungry?”

“I am.” Josiah raises a hand. For someone who barely exercises and spends all his time in one place, staring at his phone, he eats the equivalent of a horse.

“What do you feel like eating, mom?” I ask as we return to the parking lot.

“Something very American,” mom says.

I mention a famous fast food chain that we don’t have in Belize. Mom lights up and Josiah seems agreeable.

“Are you going to call another driver?” Mom asks.

“Roger waits for us,” Josiah informs her smartly.

“Roger?”

“Uh…” I bite down on my bottom lip. I haven’t told mom that Roger is our twenty-four seven chauffeur.

We get outside and Roger is, indeed, right there in the parking lot.

Mom leans in to whisper in my ear. “I thought those ride sharing apps only dropped you off? How much does it cost for them to stay?”

“I’m not sure.”

“You shouldn’t waste money like that, Nardi.” Mom swats at me. “Now you have to pay this man for the time hewasn’tdriving.”

“Nardi doesn’t pay him. Cullen does,” Josiah informs mom, his eyes on his phone.

I freeze.

Mom freezes.

“Haha! Let’s go, let’s go. There’ll be traffic if we wait.” I usher mom to the vehicle.

Mom’s eyes remain on me as we slide in the car.

“Ms. Davis, where are we headed?”

I tell him the name of the restaurant and Roger takes off.

The silence in the car is uncomfortable. All I can hear is the hum of the airconditioning and the faint thrum of the wheels turning on the pavement.

I stare straight ahead. “Mom, if you keep looking at me like that you’ll bore a hole in my skull.”

“Nardi, I thought you ordered the most expensive car on the app to impress me. Are you saying you didn’t order a ride?”

“N-no, mom.”

“And indeed, the man I saw today is paying for this car?”

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