Chapter 11 #2
“Nothing special.”
Katie looked disturbed. “He doesn’t have any family to go to?” Morgan shook his head. “Then why didn’t you bring him along so he didn’t have to spend Christmas alone?”
He took a deep breath and let it out slowly as he contemplated what to reveal. Not the tentacles, for sure. He went with another technical truth instead. “Ty is enochlophobic. That’s a fear of—”
“Of crowds.”
Of course, Katie knew that; she was a psychologist. “Yeah. He can handle the little town close to Parrish Island, but he can’t go much farther without having a panic attack.
He’s working on it, but …” Morgan sighed.
“I’m not going to push him for something he can’t give me.
He’d like to meet you and Nicki, though,” he added.
“He told me he’d love it if you two came to the island.
” That much was very true; Ty was enamored with the idea of meeting more of Morgan’s extended family.
“That’s nice of him.” They stood in silence as Katie processed what he’d told her. “Maybe we should have come to you this year,” she said slowly.
Just her mentioning the idea of travel was a surprise. “Why do you say that?”
“Because—”
Just then, Katie’s phone rang. She picked it up off the counter and checked it, then rolled her eyes. “It’s Mom. You ready?”
“Go ahead.”
Katie answered. “Hey, Mom, you’re on speakerphone,” she said as she put it back down on the counter so they could both talk into it. “Merry Christmas Eve.”
“Merry Christmas, my angel! Is your brother there?”
“Merry Christmas, Mom,” Morgan said.
“Morgan! Darling! You’re finally here; I was starting to think you’d fallen off the face of the Earth!”
He chuckled awkwardly. “Sorry.”
“Why didn’t you call me?”
“Everything was running late,” he apologized.
“Plus, he had to go and get my Christmas present,” Katie added with a grin. “You’re not going to believe it, Mom. Morgan got me a car!”
There was a long moment of silence, and then— “Well, aren’t you special.” Their mother sounded almost … disappointed. “I suppose that means you’re not getting me the car I wanted for Christmas, darling. After I asked you months ago.”
Aaand here it came, the ever-present accusation that Morgan was a bad son for not giving his mother the world wrapped up in a bow.
“But I understand,” she went on in a slightly tragic tone of voice.
“It’s not like you’ve bothered to visit me for the past three years for more than a day at a time; why go out of your way to remember a little thing like a Christmas present? ”
“Mom,” Katie cut in before Morgan could say anything, “a new car isn’t a little present.”
“Exactly! And yet he managed to get you one, didn’t he? Mmm, I see which way the wind is blowing.”
“Mom—”
“But never mind,” she said blithely. “I don’t need anything except my children for Christmas.
You’re going to love Kevin, darling; he’s so smart, and he has the best ideas for his app.
I want you to promise to sit down and listen to his proposal, all right?
And you might not have been nice to me for Christmas, but I’ve definitely been nice to you.
” She giggled. “I’ve got a big surprise planned for you tomorrow. Ooh, you’re going to love it!”
That sounded ominous. “What kind of surprise?” Morgan asked warily.
“The kind I can’t talk about, silly. All right, then, see you tomorrow! Not a second later than noon, you hear?” She ended the call before they could say anything else.
They stared at each other for a second before Katie topped off her glass. “Like I was saying, maybe we should have come to you.”
Morgan frowned. “How long has she been so … pushy?”
Katie scoffed. “You have to ask? Ever since the sale of NovaChem. I think Mom expected to have a lot more say in how you spent your money.”
“Why would she think that?”
“Because she’s a narcissist who makes everything about herself,” his sister replied tiredly.
“God, the things she said during my divorce, you’d think she was the one leaving Nathan and not me.
And she blamed me for it too! Said I needed to be more understanding of his needs, that I couldn’t raise a kid without a father figure around … ”
Morgan put down his wineglass and opened his arms, and Katie stepped into his hug a moment later. “I’m sorry,” he said. “I didn’t know it was so bad; why didn’t you tell me?”
“You’ve already done as much as you could,” Katie insisted.
“You paid for a great lawyer, who made sure I could keep the house instead of having to sell it. I’ve got full custody too.
I’ve got everything I want, just … the getting was a little rough at times.
But you were so busy, you and Bentley were having your own issues, and the writing was on the wall with the company, and … it’s fine.”
It wasn’t fine, but he wasn’t going to make a big deal out of it if she didn’t want him to. He squeezed her once more, then let go and carefully didn’t notice her wiping her eyes before she picked up her wine again. “Now tell me more about Ty,” Katie said.
They talked for hours—about the island, Ty’s research, the diner, and his shoulder.
They talked about Nicki’s teacher and classmates, her best friend, Kinleigh, and how much she loved tennis, and by the time they finally went to sleep, it was actually Christmas Day.
Morgan had a quick shower before collapsing into the comfortable bed, exhausted from travel.
He fell asleep fast, but it was hard to settle for long.
He’d gotten too used to being held at night.
Nicki woke him up with shrieks of, “It’s Christmas morning, and Santa came, come see, come see!” way too early, but Katie met him with a wry smile and a huge cup of coffee at the bottom of the stairs.
“Come on, Santa,” she said, leading the way to the living room where, sure enough, Nicki had found the presents Morgan had left for her. She got a new racket, a cute tennis outfit, and a gift certificate for a dune buggy ride whenever she and her mom came to the coast to see him.
“A dune buggy? Cool! Mom, we have to go right now!”
Nicki laughed and hugged her eager daughter. “Maybe when it’s a little warmer, huh?”
“I can wear a jacket!”
Morgan got the first three books in a new series by an author he used to read all the time as well as a tin of homemade Christmas cookies that had been decorated with great enthusiasm. “You can share them with Ty,” Katie said with a smirk.
“I will,” he replied. Ty seemed to subsist mostly on protein, but he was a sucker for the occasional sweet.
The morning was nice and relaxed. Morgan took pictures of his little family and sent them on to Ty, who would get them the next time he went to town, and—
The phone rang. The number was unfamiliar, but Morgan knew the area code. He answered cautiously. “Hello?”
“Merry Christmas, Morgan.”
“Ty.” What the … how the … “Where are you calling from?” he asked.
“Donna helped me get a phone.”
Oh, shit, that was … “Wow.” Ty had resisted having a cell phone for decades at this point. “Why?”
“Because I wanted to be able to speak with you without having to wait.” He sounded a little sheepish. “I should have told you before you left, but I thought it might be a fun surprise.”
“It definitely is.” It was the best surprise.
Katie looked over interestedly. “Is that Ty?”
“Yes …”
“Let me talk to him.” She held out her hand. Morgan just stared at her. “I’ll be nice! I just want to wish him happy holidays.” He relented and watched with trepidation as Katie launched into, “Merry Christmas, Ty! This is Katie, Morgan’s sister. How are you?”
It could have been a disaster, but it wasn’t. In fact, not even a minute into their conversation, she started laughing. “Really? God, I feel bad for you. He can be the worst patient. No, I know … I’ve told him that for years!”
Wait, were they … commiserating about him? “Give me my phone back.”
“No, I—wait, no!”
They fought over the phone for a minute before Morgan won long enough to say, “Talk to you again soon, love you, bye!” before hanging up. After he did, he caught the unaccountably soft expression on his sister’s face. “What?”
She shook her head. “Nothing. Want some more coffee?”
The rest of the morning continued to be nice and relaxed, with a pancake breakfast, prepping side dishes and appetizers, and lots of strong coffee to fuel them.
It wasn’t until the three of them were sliding into his sister’s new car in their Sunday best, a bag full of presents in the back seat, that Morgan realized he’d lost almost all the joy he’d started the day with.
“To battle,” Katie intoned as she slid into the driver’s seat.
“To battle!” Nicki cheered from her booster.
It was funny but also not. Seeing family shouldn’t feel like getting ready to defend himself against an attack, and yet that was what he was left with.
Morgan’s chest got tighter and tighter the closer they got to his mother’s boyfriend’s place, which was in a gated neighborhood about thirty minutes east of Katie’s modest house.
By the time they pulled up as close as they could get, given all the cars in front of it, it seemed like he could hardly breathe.
The house was more of a mansion, one covered in tasteful but monochrome white lights.
There was a holly wreath on the front door, which opened before the person walking up to it even had a chance to knock.
His mother greeted the tall, slick-haired man with a beaming smile and a hug, drawing him inside, and …
“Holy shit,” Katie said. “That’s Bentley. Isn’t it?”
Morgan sat frozen, unable to react, unable to even move. All he could do was tilt his eyes down, unseeing and panicking until he caught sight of the glittering shell in his bracelet.
It’s okay. You don’t need him. You don’t need to be afraid of him, either. He didn’t break you. You’ve found someone so much better, someone who loved you.
Someone who you love back.
Morgan suddenly remembered the conversation he’d had with Ty not two hours ago. He’d told him he loved him, he’d done it without even thinking about it, but he’d meant it. Wholly and completely. I do love him.
And that was fine. It was okay to love Ty; it was perfect, in fact, because Ty loved him right back.
Ty had said he loved him first, and something permanently shifted in Morgan’s mind as he realized that he trusted that love now.
Ty had changed his whole life around for Morgan, given his greatest secret up to Morgan, cared for him and helped him and been so sweet to him that Morgan could burst from it.
He’d gotten a phone for him and called him on Christmas day, and it was the best present ever.
Ty was better than he deserved but exactly who he wanted, and Ty wanted him right back. The only other people Morgan needed were right here in the car with him.
“It is Bentley!” Katie’s voice rose in pitch. “How could she invite him here? And at Christmas! What, to ambush you? I can’t believe her!”
“Mommy?” Nicki called nervously from the back, but Katie was already fumbling with her seat belt, motor skills evaporated in the wake of her outrage.
“I’m going to—”
“No.” Morgan reached out and laid a hand on his sister’s arm. He could move again, breathe again. The frost that had congealed in his chest had melted just as fast. “Don’t bother.”
His sister glared at him. “I’m not going to let our mother think she can get away with ‘surprising’ you with your ex at a family event!”
“So don’t.” He smiled at her. “Let’s not go.”
“Not … go?”
“Let’s go back to your place, make hot cocoa, and have Christmas just for ourselves.
Or better yet, let’s get a hotel room somewhere in town so they can’t find us and do Christmas there.
Or …” He was on the verge of offering to charter a jet for them and take them all back to Parrish Island for the rest of the holiday, but that might be too much, too soon.
Soon enough, though, he hoped that would be in the cards. “We don’t have to see them. Not any of them,” Morgan said, and it was a truth that set him free. “Let’s go do something fun instead.”
“Like ice skating?” Nicki asked.
“Exactly!”
Katie exhaled heavily, then started to laugh.
“Fuck it. All right, let’s do it. Let’s go live it up in the city for a few days.
I want us to call Ty back tonight, though,” she added as she pulled the sleek SUV back onto the snowy road.
“So I can thank him for making you happy like I’ve never seen you before. ”
“We can call him together.” Morgan knew Ty would answer, just like he knew he’d be happy to host his sister and Nicki. Because, against all the odds, he loved Morgan.
And Morgan loved him right back.