“Me too. I’m glad you called. When I saw Mom’s number…I never expected it to be you.”
“I know. I’m sure you have a lot of questions, and I understand why you haven’t been answering my calls. But I was so glad to get ahold of you.”
“Your calls? I…I’ve been trying to call you.”
I swallowed. “Oh.” Ainsley.
“Mom said you were working and didn’t have service.”
I nodded slowly as it began to sink in. She really had thought of everything, hadn’t she? Or…almost everything, anyway. “Yeah. Well, I’ll explain that in a minute. Right now, I want to hear about you. How was your visit with Glennon and Seth?”
“Eh, it was alright. Glad to be home, though.”
Lifting his bag with one hand, I slung the other around his shoulders as we began to make our way through the airport.
“What happened to your wrist?” he asked, staring at my freshly bandaged wrist resting on his shoulder.
I pulled it back, shaking my head noncommittally. “Oh, it’s nothing. How are your brother and sister?”
“Fine, I guess. Annoying as ever.” He laughed. “I’m sorry we all left. Mom didn’t give us a choice, you know?”
“Yeah.” I was quiet for a moment. “Dylan, about that, I’ve got some bad news. About Mom.”
He stopped. “What is it? Is it about why you had her phone? Is she okay?”
“Yeah, she is. At least, for now, anyway.” I urged him forward as I caught sight of the exit doors. “Come on, we’ll talk more about it in the car.”
“Okay, yeah. Sure.” He sounded more confident than I was sure he felt, his jaw locked tight.
A few minutes later, once we’d made it to the car, I loaded his bag in the trunk and sat down in the driver’s seat. His expression was distraught, obviously imagining the worst.
“I’m not sure what your mom told you about what’s going on between us…”
“She said you’re separating. That you’re probably going to get divorced.” His eyes searched mine. “Is that true?”
I huffed out a sigh, looking down and pinching the bridge of my nose. “Unfortunately, yeah. That’s what she wants.”
“But you don’t? Can’t you just, like, talk to her? Can’t you just buy her some flowers or something? It’s just a stupid fight, right? There has to be a way to—”
I put a hand up to stop him. “I wish it was just a stupid fight, but your mom’s got her mind made up. I…” I pressed a thumb to my lips, looking away for a beat, and then looked back at him, my mouth hanging open. “I don’t really know how to tell you this. I’ve thought all this time about how I would tell you, but I guess I’ll just come right out with it…your mom is having an affair.”
He jerked his head back. “A what? Seriously?”
“She’s met a man named Matt. He’s young, looks like he’s your age, and they’ve fallen for each other.”
“You can’t be serious. Mom wouldn’t do that—”
“There are things you don’t know about her, bud. It’s…look, this isn’t easy to tell you, but this isn’t the first man this has happened with.”
“What? No.”
“We’ve always worked it out. No matter what. I’ve looked the other way and forgiven her time and time again. I love your mother, son. I love you guys. And I want us to be together, but…this time, she’s too far gone. She won’t listen to me. I can’t convince her—”
“Let me talk to her. She listens to us. She can’t want this—”
“Listen, there will be time for all of that, but right now, it’s not safe.”
“What do you mean?”
I turned away from him, starting the car. “Nothing. I shouldn’t have said that. Ignore me.”
“No, Dad, tell me what you meant.”
“It’s not my place. You’re just kids. This is between the adults. It’s all going to be okay. I need you to believe that. I promise you, somehow, I’m going to make sure it’s okay.”
“I’m not a kid, Dad. I’m practically a man now,” Dylan said, his voice purposefully deeper than before. “You can trust me.”
I weighed my options, drumming my fingers on the steering wheel. “Matt’s…not a good guy. I’ll leave it at that.”