Page 36 of Until Landon
“I told you if it happened you would be in on it.”
“Alright. Is he a good guy or just a filler?”
“A good guy. I’m not good at fillers. At this point we are getting to know each other. What do you think?”
“Doesn’t he live somewhere else?”
“Memphis.”
“Okay. Well, good for you, Mom. Have fun.”
It does not escape my notice, Hunter thinks the distance will end up defining the relationship. Sounds like a filler to him. And he is dismissing it as unlikely. He could be right. Four hours apart is not a small detail. The whole subject evaporates as I am summoned again by the crystal dinner bell.
“The patient needs something. Have to go. Bye, son. Remember, be smart.”
“Straight up, Mom. You be smart too.”
I close the screen and grab the cell.
“I’m coming, Ronnie,” I call, walking out of the room.
“I need the fucking urinal dumped. Sorry honey. I’d do it if I could.” He lifts the plastic bottle as I reach the back of the couch.
I try to ease his mind.
“You think a little pee scares me? Ha! One time while Maxen was caring for me I shit my wheelchair!”
He starts laughing. It surprises him as much as it does me.
“You did not!”
“I did too,” I call, heading down the hallway to the bathroom. “He read the dosage wrong on the stool softener! So basically it was his fault.”
I return to the living room and hand the bottle back.
“So you see, I don’t have a wanky leg to stand on.”
“If I ever shit in my seat, just kill me. What did you do?”
“I could clean myself, after he moved me to the bathroom. But he had to take care of most of it. The chair, the clothes. It was literally a shitshow.”
“I don’t feel so bad then about a little piss.”
“Good. I’m going to start dinner. Keep me company. Oh, and please don’t tell your son that disgusting story.”
“Now that you’ve brought it up, what’s the deal between you two? You into him?”
Retrieving the large cutting board from under the island, I meet his eyes.
“Yeah, I like him.”
That’s it. No extra information or avoidance of the subject.
“He likes you too. Although I don’t think this is news to you.”
I smile and cannot wipe it off my face.
“Landon isn’t one to talk much about his feelings,” he says. “It’s hereditary.”
