Heart of Glass (Fostering Love 3)

“You’re kidding, right?” I answered, my lips twitching. “I thought we didn’t want to scare the mom off.”

My dad guffawed as Mom shook her head.

“Everyone loves Kate,” she said in admonishment. “If anything, she’d probably become best friends with the girl.”

“Let’s just wait and make sure she’s worth being best friends with, huh?” I said as we moved out of the craft room and down the hallway toward the kitchen. “We don’t know anything about her.”

“Henry clearly liked her.”

“Not necessarily,” I said, embarrassment making heat race up the back of my neck. “We don’t know if there was a relationship.”

“Clearly not an important one if Hen didn’t ever mention her,” my dad said as he pulled food out of the fridge.

“What?” my mom asked, glancing between the two of us. “Are you saying she was a—a one-night stand?” She sounded so scandalized that my dad snorted out a laugh, while I wanted to sink through the floor. Having any conversation about sex with my mother ranked at about the same level of discomfort as having my balls waxed…actually, I’d rather be having my balls waxed.

“Not sure that Henry really had relationships,” I muttered, when she continued to stare at me as if waiting for an answer.

“Well, that’s just great,” she barked as she stomped toward the kitchen sink. “And what about you?”

My eyes widened in horror as I stood there frozen, too afraid to move in case a sound would make her turn in my direction.

“Quit,” Dad said, slapping my mom’s hip lightly. “He doesn’t want to talk about that shit with you, crazy woman.”

“I thought I raised them to respect women,” she replied as if I wasn’t even in the room. “I thought I taught them that sex was a gift and shouldn’t be taken lightly, but accepted with gratefulness.”

“Now you’re saying our sons should be grateful to women willing to have sex with them?” Dad asked dubiously as I looked around, frantically trying to figure out the best escape route.

“Well, aren’t you grateful I have sex with you?” my mom snapped.

“Fair enough,” Dad said in agreement.

Oh, fuck this. I needed to get the hell out of there.

“Trevor Raymond Harris, don’t even think about it,” Mom said without turning in my direction. I’d taken only one step backward.

“I need a beer,” I said, inching my way toward the back door. My dad always kept his brews in a cooler out back so Mom had enough room in the fridge for food.

“You see what happens when you have sex willy-nilly?” Mom asked, spinning to stop my movement with a glare. “You see?”

“I’ve never gotten anyone pregnant,” I said sharply, my shoulders snapping straight. “And I wouldn’t.”

“You can’t know that for certain.”

“I can damn sure do my best,” I retorted, standing my ground. “I’m careful, always.”

“Careful doesn’t mean shit—”

“Ellie,” Dad interrupted. “That’s enough.”

Mom’s mouth snapped closed.

“It’s not Trev you’re mad at. Quit harping on him.”

Mom’s body practically quivered with suppressed anger, but she nodded shortly. “Go get your beer,” she ordered, her voice softening a little. She left the room without another word.

“Jesus,” I mumbled once she was out of earshot.

“She’s dealing with a lot,” Dad said, turning back to the onion he was slicing. “But you know that wasn’t meant for you, right?”

“Yeah, I know.”

“She’s trying to understand what your brother was thinking, leaving that baby,” he said without turning to look at me. “After all we’ve been through, those years of hoping and realizing that it just wasn’t gonna happen for us, and then finding a different way to build our family…hell, I don’t understand it, either.”

“Just because it might’ve been a one-night stand,” I said, shaking my head even though he couldn’t see me. “That isn’t a reason. Wouldn’t be a reason for me.”

“I know that, Trev,” he said, looking over his shoulder at me and nodding. “I know you, son.”

“I don’t understand it either.”

“You and Henry have never been the same person,” Dad said, going back to his onion. “You and Shane and Henry have always been as different as chalk and cheese and steak, and that doesn’t have nothing to do with how you look or when you came to live with us. Your personalities just couldn’t be more different.”

“I never would have thought that he’d do something like this,” I said in disgust, stepping outside to grab a couple beers. When I stepped back inside, Dad was rinsing off his hands.

“I couldn’t have imagined it either,” Dad said, accepting his beer with a nod of thanks. “But shit. You’re all grown men now. Gotta make your own decisions and live your own lives. I just keep telling myself that we’ve got no idea what the circumstances were around Henry leaving that baby.”

“It’s bullshit,” I replied stubbornly.

Dad reached out and gave my shoulder a squeeze. “Remember one thing, Trev, while you’re being pissed at your brother. He might not have taken care of his responsibilities the way we would’ve, but he still set up that life insurance to take care of them in case anything happened to him.”