“You want to tell me when you both got so friendly again?”
“We have three children together, Oliver.”
She’s pulled out the full name. I should proceed with caution. However, the emotions churning inside of me like a whirlpool blow any shot I had of doing that out of the water.
“And?”
“And it’s ti
me you make your peace with him and what happened. I did.”
“What the hell, Mom?”
“I know why you sent Allie away. You’ve always been resistant to anything long term. Your father and I are to blame for that. I tried to let you work through it on your own. But seeing you go through this healing process alone soured my stomach.”
“Mom, it’s not even like that.” I hold out a hand to stop her.
“Are you sure? You two have a child together, and she’s a sweet girl—”
“Yes, when she wants to be. We’re too incompatible to work long term. That’s why I cut ties with her. Leading her on isn’t good for me, her, or Rolly.”
She blinks. “Oh.”
I smile. “I’ve been holding out on you. I’m seeing Quinn.”
“The girl who saved your life?” Smiling, she sits up straighter in her chair.
I laugh. “Yeah. We wanted to keep it to ourselves and see how it panned out before we let others know.”
“Oh, this is wonderful. You’re serious about her?”
“Very.”
She sighs. “That makes me immensely happy. You’re forty-one. I don’t want you to be alone like me.”
“Mom, you’re still young,” I protest. I hate the defeated look on her face.
“It’s kind of you to say that. Back to you. I think it’s time to settle this thing with your father. He was beside himself at the hospital. Crying, demanding answers, and looking every one of his sixty-five years. I don’t know when I saw him so shaken.”
“Really?”
“Honey, he may never have understood you, but he’s always loved you. You butted heads because he wanted to give you a good life, and in his mind, you’d never allowed him to do that. When you rejected everything he believed and stood for, it was personal for him.”
Her words paint his side of the picture. I mull it over. Not ready to be swayed, I sigh and scrub my face with my hand. Things are never as black and white as we want them to be, and the hostility between us takes energy I don’t feel like extended any longer.
“I hear you, Mom. I’m going to work on this. I need you to bear with me, though, ’cause I’m not where you are in the process.”
“That’s all I ask,” she says gently.
“If I do this, you have to do something for me in return.”
“What’s that?” she asks.
“Start dating.”
“Oh, no. I am so past that age.”
“No, you’re not, Mom. Come on, do this and I’ll give Dad a shot.”