Page 50 of Otter Heart
“Fuck,” I grumbled, pushing myself up and rubbing the tears out of my eyes.
Talking toanyonesounded awful. But talking to her especially would be painful. She could always tell when I was upset, and I didn’t really want to be badgered right now. But if I didn’t pick up the phone, she wouldn’t stop calling. And if I didn’t pick up after all that, she might send the police to my house to make sure I wasn’t dead. That was something Ireallydidn’t want to deal with.
Best to just answer her.
I made a vain attempt to compose myself, clearing my throat before I clicked the green button and held the phone to my ear.
“H-Hello?” I said, my voice cracking.
There was a long pause. “Are you okay? You sound upset.”
Fucking hell. The woman had a sixth sense. It was uncanny.
“Yeah, I’m fine,” I lied. “I was just taking a nap. What’sup?”
“Sorry to wake you, honey.” She sounded sad about it for just a moment before her tone took on a much cheerier vibe. “I’ve got a surprise for you though!”
If there was one thing I knew about Mom’s surprises, it was that they usually weren’t what I was expecting. And they always seemed to benefit her in some way. Don’t get me wrong, her heart was in the right place, but I just wasn’t really in the mood for a surprise from anyone right now.
“Oh?” I said, trying to muster a smile. “What’s the surprise?”
“I’m in town!”
“O-Oh…”
“You don’t sound happy,” she said, and I could almost hear the pouty lip she was sticking out.
“No, no!” I replied, desperately trying to recover. “It’s just when you said you were gonna visit, I didn’t think it would be so soon. I thought you meant toward the end of the summer.”
“Well, I had some PTO from work that I needed to use up and I figured it wouldn’t hurt to spend it with my favorite guy in the whole world.”
“I’m flattered.” I glanced over at the door to the second bedroom where I had the sex swing already broken down, but not hidden well. “When should I expect you? I’ll make up the second bedroom.”
“Oh no. I couldn’t impose like that,” she chuckled. “Besides, I know you haven’t gotten a chance to get a second bed for your place. No offense honey, but that pull-out couch hurt my back when I was in my twenties and visiting your uncle. I can’t imagine it’s improved with age.”
“You’re not wrong.”
“So, I’m in a hotel for the week.” I could hear the smile in her voice. “I got a room with a view out over Lake Michigan! It’s pretty spectacular!”
“It is really pretty here…”
“Honey, don’t take this the wrong way, but you sound off.”
“I told you, I’m still waking up.”
“Well, get some coffee and come see me!” She paused for a moment. “Better yet, why don’t you come downtown, and we’ll get lunch and coffee together! I saw a cute little cafe down the road that I wanted to try.”
Glancing at the clock on the wall I saw it was nearly one in the afternoon. I hadn’t eaten or barely even moved the entire day. Coffee sounded wonderful too. Plus, it might be nice to visit with someone other than Mateo. It would help get my mind off things.
“Alright. Can you give me a half hour?”
“Of course, honey.”
“Text me the name of the place and I’ll meet you there.”
“Sounds good! I can’t wait to catch up and figure out what you’ve been doing out here! You’ve gotta have lots of plans for the future by now so I bet we’ll have a lot to talk about! Love you!”
“Love you too…”
