Page 29 of Forever Yours

Ryder swiped something on his phone and put it back into his pocket. “I’ll be sure to tell him that.”

I one-armed Jayson to stop him from getting up. “Both of you chill. Not the place or time.”

Ash softly ribbed me with his elbow and leaned sideways to whisper in my ear.

“Your friends are kind of intense.”

“Long backstory. Just ignore them.”

Someone’s phone started buzzing.

Jayson flicked my ear, and I swatted his finger away. I swear to God, if one more person poked, nudged, or elbowed me again, I was going to lose it.

“E, your ass is making weird noises.”

I hadn’t noticed it was coming from my phone. I thought it was Ryder’s. The game was about to start, and I wanted to ignore it, but the damn thing went off again, stopped and started up a third time. Naturally, worst-case scenario was my first assumption. If someone was hell-bent on calling me, something must’ve happened to Dad.

“Sorry, I need to take this.”

Giving Jayson my pom-poms, I stood up and stepped over Ash’s legs to get down the row. Because of the sun’s direct glare, I couldn’t make out the caller ID on the screen.

“Hello?”

As soon as I answered, action exploded in the center of the field after the kickoff started the match, but I couldn’t hear the person at the other end of the line over the cheers and shouts of nearby spectators. Holding the phone to my right ear, I stuck a finger in the left and walked up the exit aisle to get distance from the noise.

“Hello?” I repeated.

“Elijah?”

Her voice stopped me dead in my tracks.

“Mom?”

I hadn’t spoken to her in months, so I was confused as to why she would be calling me.

“Hold on a sec.” I took the steps two at a time until I reached the top of the stands. Ducking into the breezeway, I noticed a bench against the wall and took a seat. “Is Dad okay? What’s going on?”

Her laughter was tittering and sounded forced. “Nothing is going on. Can’t a mother call her son to see how he’s doing?”

I pulled the phone away and stared at it before placing it back to my ear.

“Elijah, are you still there?”

I frowned. “Yeah.”

My relationship with my mother was complicated. She left Dad and me when I was a teenager right after I came out to them, returned years later, only to leave again after a few months. I had major abandonment and trust issues because of it. Still saw a therapist for it. Hated myself for a long time because I shouldered the blame for her leaving. Thought it was my fault.

In a way, it was.

What did she say to Dad right before she left for good?“I can’t be a mother to a gay.”

“How are you liking Stanford?”

The frown lines across my forehead deepened.

“I’m not at Stanford. I’m at Carolina.”

She knew that. Dad said he told her when he asked if she wanted to come with us this weekend.

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