Page 87 of A Reluctant Boy Toy
“Ariel mentioned it. She asked if Sebastian and I would like to come.” She frowned and tapped her finger idly on the table. “Are you worried about having Sebastian there? Because if that’s the case, we should stay here. We won’t go if it will make things uncomfortable.”’
“What makes me uncomfortable is how I left things with my family.” My heart said I had to make amends. My conscience said I would never deserve forgiveness from them. “It’s a mess, Molly.”
“Messes can be cleaned up.” When I didn’t respond, she said, “Do you doubt that?”
I drank my second shot.
“It seems to me Artemis’s naming ceremony isn’t a great place for you and Serena to come together for the first time since the divorce.” She gazed into the distance and again, tapped her finger on the table. “You’re likely to be emotional, plus, it could take the focus off the reason everyone is coming.”
“I thought so too, but Taggart seemed pretty insistent.”
“Maybe you could contact Serena and talk to her before the fact? You can begin to say what you have to say. Test the waters, so to speak, and let Serena do the same. That way you can still support Ariel, Tag, and Artemis on her naming day.”
The idea went down my spine like electricity. Molly was exactly right.
I needed to talk to Serenabeforethe ceremony.
I needed to humble myself enough to listen to her this time. Because there were decisions I couldn’t—wouldn’t dare—make unilaterally, including whether it would benefit our children for me to be in their lives or harm them further. Being totally honest now meant we had to meet in uncharted territory, where my understanding of myself included the news that I identified as demisexual and also that I was probably bisexual.
Tag had tried to tell me. For all that I knew how to swaddle a baby, he had a better handle on communication than I ever would. They'd made it inevitable. I had to start the healing process. The hardest part getting started.
It was Wednesday night. Late, for Serena. But if I knew she was going to be there Saturday, then she knew I would be as well. There might be a better time to ask for a meeting, but there would never be an easier one.
Without another word to Molly, I got out my phone and drifted back to my office. Morrigan followed.
Good. I might need her for this.
“Hello?” Serena answered on the first ring.
“It’s me.” I cleared my clogged throat. “It’s Stone.”
“I assumed, from the name Stone with your number underneath it. What do you want?” she asked without inflection. “It’s late.”
“It’s about Saturday.”
A long sigh came from her side of the phone, and then she was talking to someone in the background. “Yes, it’s him. It’s fine. I’ll be back in a minute.”
A door closed.
“Stone?” She came back to me a couple seconds later. “I can’t talk long.”
“Since we’re going to both be at Artemis’s naming ceremony on Saturday, I thought…That is I would appreciate it if you would come early so we can talk—”
“Why?”
Why?Because I was a jackass, and I wanted to do better.That’s why.I’d scribbled better words on the back of a junk-mail envelope, and I was ready for this.
Here goes nothing.
“I would appreciate the opportunity to come clean about my mistakes and the chance to do better. I owe you and the kids an apology, Serena.”
There was a long pause before she answered. “How early would you want us to come?”
“An hour, maybe?” Since I had expected an argument, my mind went blank.
“You believe we can come to terms with the past inan hour?”
“We have to start somewhere.”
