Page 39 of We Are the Stars

She nods. “I can see that. What about the friends?”

“What about them?”

“You said ‘had’. Are they not around now?”

I chuckle. “You’re very observant. Two still are. They live with me now.”

She nods again. “And the girlfriend?”

“Uh…” I wince, thinking back to the last night I was with my ex.

It was the last night my life was normal. I was over at her house and we’d just had sex for the first time when I received a phone call from my mother that sent me into a panic. If I were a religious man, I’d say it was God punishing me for having premarital sex, but I can’t be sure.

All I know is that after that night, I didn’t speak to my ex again.

“Let’s just say it didn’t end on a high note,” I tell her.

Elliott doesn’t respond.

The quiet engulfs us again, only this time it’s not relaxing. I’m getting itchy, wanting to talk to her more before I inevitably screw this night up.

“Ma knew your father,” I say to break the silence.

I expect her to scramble around, maybe turn on me with accusations, anything. Instead, all she says is, “I never knew.”

“I’ve always known.”

“Will you… Will you tell me?”

I respect her calm demeanor. Hell, I’m envious of it. I don’t have that stillness in me anymore.

“She called him Gelly be—”

“Because he was pudgy when he was a kid,” she finishes for me. “I hear Uncle Bryan call him that from time to time.”

“He called her Nut,” I continue. “Because she was the peanutbutter to his Gelly. They were best friends for years. And your dad…” I pause, unsure how to approach talking about her father’s life before her mother. “Are you sure you want to hear this?”

“Positive.”

“Your dad loved my mom, and not purely in a friendly way. She didn’t… She knew, ya know? Always said there were hints. He’d take extra time on presents for her birthday or Christmas, go out of his way to sit next to her, and with the looks he gave her, she knew, but she didn’t feel the same way for a long time, believed she was too good for him because that’s the way she was raised.”

Elliott sits up, resting her back against Ma’s headstone. I follow.

“What happened next?” she asks. I don’t hear malice in her words, only curiosity.

“Your mother came along. I swear, I have never heard my mom talk about another woman with such fondness. Ma said the moment Nigel met Kaye, my mom ceased to exist in his heart. It broke her in a way she wasn’t prepared for. She realized then that she loved him, and that she wasn’t too good for him, but he was too good for her.”

Elliott sighs. “I want to be sorry things didn’t work out between my father and your mom, but I love my parents together, so I can’t do that.”

“I didn’t tell you so you’d feel sorry for them, or her. I told you because I wanted to be honest with you, let you know that I’ve known about you for some time.”

Her eyes widen in surprise. “You have?”

“Oh yeah. Ma kept up on all things Nigel and Kaye. I think she shipped them more than they shipped themselves. She was hopelessly in love with their story.”

“They do have a good story. My mom was such a brat to my dad.”

“Sothat’swhere you get it from.”

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