Series: Fever Falls Series by Riley Hart
Total pages in book: 96
Estimated words: 92704 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 464(@200wpm)___ 371(@250wpm)___ 309(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 92704 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 464(@200wpm)___ 371(@250wpm)___ 309(@300wpm)
“Well, I assume this doctor also handles face-lifts, which was the reason I asked.”
“Stop it, Mom!” Dax shouted. “You look great.”
“I have a lot of doctors to thank for that, so in a few years, I’ll have one more to add to the list. Big deal.”
Smoke rushed up from the stove behind her.
“Jesus, Serena.” Jace jumped to his feet and hurried to help her with the apparent kitchen catastrophe.
To no one’s surprise, Serena’s chicken parmesan didn’t quite work out the way she’d planned, but we were only an app away from delivery. As soon as it arrived, I called out the contents of each container from everyone’s Cheesecake Factory orders, and Serena announced, “See, even better than if my dinner had worked out. Now everyone gets exactly what they want.”
“Not to mention, Jace’s place isn’t on fire, and no one is going to wind up in the hospital for food poisoning,” Dax added.
“I guess I need a little more practice,” Serena said, pouting.
Dax reached across the table and set his hand on her arm. “How about we have some practice sessions before another party, huh? A little mother-son cooking course?”
She blushed. “Yes, I think that might not be such a bad idea.” They glanced at one another, grinning.
I’d known Dax for a long-ass time, through the ups and downs with Serena. They hadn’t always had it easy. In some ways, Serena made my mom look like Mother of the Year, but it was amazing to see how far they had come since she and Dax had started working on their relationship a few years earlier. It reminded me of something that was long overdue.
After Sawyer and I returned to his place, he parked in his driveway, and I spit out, “I think I’m going to do it.”
“I feel like there’s a memo I might have missed.”
“I’m going to call my mom.”
He reached across the console between us and took my hand, squeezing gently.
Sawyer’s touches were such a strange mix—sweet and tender one moment, then rougher as soon as requested. I fucking loved it.
“It was just so…funny, seeing Serena and Dax together, laughing and smiling. I didn’t think I’d ever see them together like that. When I first met him, he still had so much anger at her from his childhood. Hatred, rightly so, but I can see how much she’s trying…and how hard they’re both fighting to make it work.” I teared up. “I don’t want to leave my mom on her own. I know things can’t be the same. I can’t be there every time she needs crap, but…I do want her in my life.”
“She’s your mom. That makes sense. Maybe you guys need to talk about boundaries…or…”
“Maybe some mother-son counseling,” I said, partly as a joke, but it was true.
We headed inside together, and I slipped away to the bedroom for some privacy. Sitting on the edge of the bed, I had to work myself into it, but I finally called her.
Three rings and then I heard that familiar, “Babe?”
I could have cried at the sound of her voice. Despite all the bullshit, all the pain, I couldn’t change that she was my mother. And she wasn’t all bad. However, there was this poison inside her that kept hurting both of us.
“Hi, Mom,” I forced out.
“How have you been? I’ve been worried about you. I tried calling after you got mad.”
“I’m fine. Sawyer, the guy I brought over, we’re staying together in Georgia.”
“Oh, I’m so happy to hear that. He seemed really nice.”
But just as soon as we acknowledged my own relationship, I knew I couldn’t not think of hers. “What about you? How’s Jon?”
She said quietly, “Carter, I—”
“Never mind. I don’t want to hear about him.”
“We broke up.”
I silenced once again. A part of me was relieved, but another part knew it was just that same cycle.
“I should say, I broke up with him…about two weeks ago.”
She’d broken up with guys before and gotten back together with them. Two weeks was definitely longer than her usual fight, but the part that surprised me most was: “And you didn’t call?”
“I did call. A lot, actually.” It was evident in the way she spoke that she was making an attempt at being cheeky, but her voice cracked at the end of her sentence, allowing me to hear her hurt, the pain I’d caused by ignoring her.
“That’s not what I meant,” I said. “Usually you would have mentioned it or texted me…or something.”
She hesitated. “After our fight the day you and Sawyer came over to the house, I did a lot of soul-searching. Obviously, I haven’t lived this long without being aware, at least to some extent, of my own faults…and how I’ve gotten myself into these situations. Even when you were a kid, I always assumed I was doing the most harm to myself. I was selfish. As I asked you to comfort and support me, all I was thinking was, I’m in pain, I need help. I used you for all of it, and that wasn’t fair.”