Page 161 of Him Lessons

With Andy’s door cracked, they could hear the heavy tread of work boots moving down the hallway, followed by the soft murmur of voices in the living room. Gray was heading back to Sacramento this morning. By the sound of it, neither he nor Kory was too happy about it.

Andy frowned as things quickly grew heated between the two. Not in a good way.

“This is ridiculous,” Gray snapped. “I should just move down here.”

“I’m fine,” Kory assured him. “We talked about this last night. One more year. Just one more year, and then we’re both done with school, and we can deal with all that. I thought you were good with the plan.”

“Well, I’m not, okay?” Gray’s voice rose with his frustration. “The security in this place is a joke, and you two have an alarm system, but you never fucking use it.”

“Gray, please,” Kory hissed. “Keep your voice down. Andy and Davis are still sleeping.”

The conservation dropped to an unintelligible murmur, but Andy had heard enough of it to feel yet another stab of guilt. She’d been so caught up in all her own anger, she hadn’t even thought about how the break-in would have affected her friends.

Kory had been abducted before. Someone had broken into the diner she worked at in Sac and kidnapped her. Of course, Aldon’s actions yesterday would stir up painful memories.

Once again, Andy’s eyes welled. “It’s my fault they’re fighting.” Davis shook her head, but Andy ignored her, words trickling out with the tears. “My crazy ex-coworker broke into the apartment, and now they’re both so upset, and their time together which should have been so happy and wonderful has been spoiled, and it’s my fault.”

“Baby, no—”

“Just like it’s my fault your trip was ruined. I ruin e-everything. I even ruined your marriage.”

“What?”Her mother gasped out the word, something like shock rendering her momentarily speechless.

Andy was a little shocked herself. Her mother hadn’t even been probing then. It was as though the lock on Andy’s most secret insecurities had suddenly sprung loose, and everything had just come flying out.

Her mother’s hands cupped her cheeks again. “Okay, daughter of mine, I’m only going to say this once, so listen well. You didnotruin my marriage.Youwere the best part of it.Youmade everythingbetter.”

“But I ruined the Louvre and all those vacations to the beach growing up. And then there was that stupid thing with Wade.”

“Well, you weren’t a perfect angel, but whose kid is? Andy, the joy of raising you far outweighed the stress of it, I assure you.”

“But you and Daddy were always arguing about me.”

“No. Wesometimesargued about you. Wemostlyargued about his mistress.”

Andy’s eyes widened. “His mistress?”

Davis snorted. “Not that kind of mistress. I’da divorced Tim’s fine ass a long time ago if that were the case. No, I’m talking about ManCave.”

“Ah.”

“Also, your father’s a Republican. It’s been a difficult relationship to navigate at times.”

This did make sense considering her mother’s decidedly liberal views.

But still. There was a part of Andy that needed to keep probing. Maybe she was more like her mother than she thought. “You never had any more kids.”

Davis shrugged. “We were entirely happy with just you.”

“Really?”

“Of course — why would you think anything else?” Her mother’s eyes narrowed, then widened suddenly. “Because of your autism?”

Andy nodded.

Her mother’s chin suddenly trembled, voice thickening with emotion. “Okay, Iwillsay it again, because it bears repeating.You make everything better.I’m sorry if anything I said or did ever led you to believe otherwise. There isn’t a thing I would change about you. That includes your autism.”

“But you had me in all that behavioral therapy growing up.”

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