Chapter 38
chapter thirty-eight
Mateo
Part of me wished that if I ignored the problem long enough it would just go away. If I ignored my parents in my home, hanging their towels on the clothesline that was definitely not there before I left for Vegas, it would just go away. If I ignored the freezer full of frozen loaves of bread, or the mini goat milk soaps on the sink in the hallway bathroom, or the new doormat with the tropical flowers on it that I had to step over with my suitcase when we returned, it would all disappear.
Poof. Gone. A figment of my nightmarish imagination.
I managed it for a week, because I couldn’t muster up the energy to have the conversation that needed to be had as soon as we got home from Nevada. I had to recover, return to some sense of normalcy at work, which was kicking my ass, and evaluate the situation. To be honest I was waiting for one of my parents to tell me about their newfound homeownership first. But after seven days of radio silence, I realized it wasn’t going to happen, and the longer I walked around pretending I didn’t know the for-sale sign on the house in the development one road over had come off the lawn, the more resentful I became.
Angelo was back in New York tying up loose ends with Duran he let my mom do the talking and sat back stoically, processing. She was the matriarch, the one pulling the strings knowing anything she decided would be supported. That’s how it always was, and that’s how it’d likely be with Natalia and me. It was about trust.
“I’m sorry our timing wasn’t the best,” Mom said softly. Surprising me. Tally’s fingers tightened around mine. “You’re right, we should have discussed it. Maybe in the back of our minds we assumed that it was something everyone would benefit from, and being your mother, making decisions for the entire family has been more than half of my life.”
“You did your job,” I assured her. “You did it well. There’s no need to grip so tightly. I might need a kick in the ass sometimes, but I found the right woman to do it. Trust me, there isn’t a damn thing I can get away with. You don’t have to worry about that.”
Natalia laughed quietly, and her lips grazed my knuckles with a kiss.
“We made the wrong decision by hiding the house from you both,” my father added. “I think we were so excited about the possibility of being around more that we only saw it from our perspective, which is having our son back.”
A knot formed in my throat. “I’ll take blame for not coming home as often as I should have. I forced you to hold on as tightly as possible to the way I used to be. Your kid and your responsibility. It might take time, but you don’t have to carve out a space in my life, because you’re already there. I regret making you feel like you had to. We could have avoided all of this.”
“I think this goes without saying,” Natalia added, “that you raised the best man in the world. He’s caring, and soulful, selfless, open-minded and hearted. He makes everyone around him better. He would never turn his back on your family, our family. I promise to take care of him forever.”
My fingers slipped into Tally’s hair, then ran down her neck and back up, and she leaned into the touch. “I think it’s great that you bought the house. Really.” I was as sincere as I could be. This wasn’t a bad thing, it was an adjustment. We’d been warming up to it since January. “As long as you call before you stop over,” I rushed out. “No more surprise visits.”
“We learned our lesson,” Dad said jokingly. “No more surprises.”
“You can enjoy the fruits of your labor, finally. If Angelo accepts the job I offer him, he might find his way down here, too,” I said. My parents perked up, exchanging a shocked but elated glance with one another.
“You offered him a job?” Dad sat up. “Doing what? He doesn’t know anything about cybersecurity.”
“I can teach him,” I said. “If he’s willing to put in the work and get serious about a career with me. He’s still young, smart, and I’m not worried at all about his reliability.” Not after lying in a holding cell all night so I didn’t have to, but we’d keep that to ourselves.
My mother left my father’s side and waddled to me, wrapping her short arms around my waist and shaking me back and forth. “That made me the happiest mother on the planet just now.”
“The Barrys next door are going to be so thrilled,” Tally chirped. Then she and my mother shot off talking about the neighborhood, interior design and garden landscaping, my mom’s brand-new dream kitchen, and throwing a housewarming party once we got back from our honeymoon. My dad reclined in the chair once more, shooting me a wink and turning the game back on.
Grade school joy sparked in my chest where a weight had been lifted.