Page 61 of Stray for You

“You can’t stop living your life because of me,” she says quietly. “There’s nothing that hurts a mother more than watching her baby let his life pass him by.”

“But doesn’t it bother you? After all that happened?”

“No, Cameron. That part of my life is over. I let it go a long time ago. I wish you would too.”

For a moment, we all stand there frozen. Then water hisses and Julian curses and lunges for the pot overflowing on the stove. My mother laughs behind her hand and puts her arm around my shoulders.

“Let’s sit down and have dinner,” she says. “Things tend to make more sense on a full stomach.”

Chapter Thirty

Julian

THIS HAS GOT TO be the strangest meal of my life, but Miss Ortiz is right. It’s probably the best chance I’ve got of getting through to Cameron.

He looks numb when he lets his mother lead him away to the table. I fly around the kitchen as timers beep and water boils. I get the potatoes off the stove and drain them in the sink, then rush back to the oven to pull out the chicken. The smell that hits me when I set the baking dish on the stovetop instantly calms my nerves. This is my mom’s chicken and potatoes recipe, a real classic, a meal that has always been synonymous with comfort.

Eventually, I emerge from the kitchen balancing three plates, each bearing a piece of chicken and a heap of soft, fluffy mashed potatoes seasoned with butter and salt. I set a plate down for Miss Ortiz, then Cameron, but I hesitate with the last plate until Miss Ortiz nods her head pointedly at the seat beside her son. Right. Yeah. I should probably sit with him if we’re going to do this.

A thick silence drapes itself over the dinner, like a second table cloth dropped on our heads. Cameron is looking down at his food, Miss Ortiz is frowning at him from across the table, and I’m trying not to jump out of my own skin with nerves. I still can’t tell if his mother’s words got through to him, if my words got through to him, but the fact that Cameron hasn’t stormed out of the house should be a positive sign at least. I made mycase, ripped out my heart for all to see. All I can do now is hope it was enough.

“Let’s eat,” Miss Ortiz says to break the tension.

The clatter of silverware is not much better than the silence that preceded it. I cut off a bit of chicken and attempt to eat it, but my throat is so tight that I have to chew it for way too long to make any progress.

“Julian, this is wonderful,” Miss Ortiz says.

I brighten a little. “Thanks. It’s my mom’s recipe.”

“I thought it seemed familiar. I’ll have to text her and see if she’ll share it with me.”

“I’m sure she wouldn’t mind. I can write it down for you if you want.”

“It’s alright,” Miss Ortiz says. “It’ll be nice to have an excuse to contact her. I haven’t been very good about that. At first I blamed it on the move, but we’ve been out here long enough that I can’t really fall back on that excuse anymore.”

Her casual tone finally manages to set me somewhat at ease. And Cameron notices it too. From the corner of my eye, I catch him watching the exchange as though he’s searching it for any sign of trouble.

“You know,” Miss Ortiz says, “Stacy and I always wanted to do things like this when we were together, but you boys never seemed to stop fighting.”

I run a nervous hand through my hair. “That was kind of my fault. I couldn’t help myself around him. I knew if I teased Cam he’d pay attention to me, and I was a dumb kid who wanted his attention, so…”

Miss Ortiz chuckles. “Is that what that was all about? I should have known.”

Heat washes into my cheeks.

“It wasn’t only his fault.”

The quiet voice beside me draws my attention instantly.Cameron is playing with a bit of chicken, pushing it around his plate, but his shoulders aren’t bunched up by his ears anymore. Progress?

“I mean, I’m the one who always took the bait,” he says. “I didn’t make things better.”

Miss Ortiz heaves a motherly sigh. “You certainly did take the bait. Sometimes I worried about that temper of yours.”

“I didn’t mind,” I throw in. “I mean, it was kind of fun, bantering like brothers.”

Only because I’m watching Cameron so closely do I catch the hint of a smile that glances along his lips. My chest seizes around it, clinging to it as I totter on this cliffedge of uncertainty.

The mood tangibly lightens after that. We talk about what we’ve been doing since college. I get to tell Miss Ortiz about my job, though I leave out the part where I used to sleep around at conferences. She seems a little too smart to miss the implications, but she doesn’t pronounce any judgments about my playboy lifestyle. She’s actually … kinda cool. This is the first time I’ve really spoken to her. When she was dating my mom, my focus was entirely on Cameron. I never spent any time getting to know her.

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