Page 10 of Heat Wave
I don’t finish the thought. I can’t finish the thought. Surely, Waylon would tell me face-to-face. Surely, he would say something. I look over at Terry and back at Rowan. Neither of them seems very reassuring at the moment. I try again when my mom doesn’t pick up.
“Mom’s alright, right?”
I know they can’t tell me for sure, but I really need some reassurance right now. Why wouldn’t Mom pick up the first time? Why is she not answering her phone?
“No way Waylon wouldn’t tell you about something like that. He would want to be with you when you were told. Right, Mom?”
Right. Maybe if we were really dating, that might be how he acted, but this whole thing with me and him isn’t real. It’s something his grandmother made up. He wouldn’t tell me if anything happened to my mom until he went through…proper channels or whatever it is they do when they tell someone that.
“Right, sweetheart. No way he wouldn’t want to be with you.”
She says it, but her eyes look worried, and all I can do is just keep trying to call my mom to be sure. As the hours tick by, all I can think about is when Waylon is going to send someone to tell me. I must look like a crazy person pacing in their kitchen, constantly hitting redial.
“Uh, hi.”
“Hello.” Is this the guy who broke in? Did he break in and kill my mom and take her phone? “Who is this?!”
“Uh, my name is Robert. I…your mom is staying with me.”
My mind goes blank at the new knowledge that Mom’s ‘friend’ is male.
“I saw where you called a bunch, and I thought there might be something wrong, so…she’s sleeping, but I’m going to wake her up. Just, uh, give me a second.”
A part of me is really happy my mom is safe and okay, while another part of me is…kind of shocked.
“Oakley? What’s wrong? Did something happen?”
“Who is Robert, Mom?”
Silence is all the answer I get for long moments until finally she whispers, “A friend.”
“A special friend?”
“Oakley Addison Nesbit…you better tell me why you decided to call me fourteen times…”
“Someone broke in, Mom.” This stops her tirade dead. “I’m okay, but…I think our place is…not.”
“Oh my God! Where are you? Are you safe?”
“I’m with Terry at her parents’ house. I don’t know a lot, but the police are there now, and I was…I was so worried that you might have come home early and been in there.”
My eyes sting as relief floods through me, and I sink into one of the dining room chairs. I can hear who I assume is Robert asking questions, and my Mom relaying what happened. “I’m coming to get you…”
“No, Mom. You’ve worked too many hours to drive all that way. I…I’m at Terry’s and I’m sure I can stay with her one more night.” I see her out of the corner of my eye nod vigorously. “I would worry myself sick if you tried driving. Just…it’s probably better you stay where you’re at.”
“Are you sure? I think I should still come, honey. It doesn’t feel right not being there with you.”
“Terry and Mrs. Abernathy are staying with me, and I really couldn’t live with the fact that you got hurt because you were trying to come to me. Please. Just stay with Robert.”
“Can I talk to her, sweetheart?” Rowen comes to stand beside me. I nod and hand the phone over to her, and try to digest what I just found out.
My mom has a…love life. There’s no way she and Robert are just friends. Not the way she got mad at me about questioning her about him. And she kept it from me. Did she feel like she had to hide it from me? Is he nice? Is it love or just a booty call? Ew, don’t really want to think about my mom and anything to do with a booty, call, or otherwise.
Rowen hands the phone back to me so I can talk to my mom some more, just as Waylon comes in. I tell her I love her and to stay safe, and she does the same with me. By the time I join them, the conversation is already going on, and the room goes quiet.
“What, um, what’s going to happen now?” I turn my attention to Waylon. “Are the police all done?”
“Oakley…you’ll have to come by tomorrow and walk through the apartment to tell us if anything is missing, but…you can’t go back there right now.”
