It didn’t bother me that I was about halfway between my girlfriend’s age and her son’s age, but it was a mindfuck.
I headed for the two of them, shouting to be heard over the road noise. “It just quit?”
“Yeah,” Liam said, his hesitation to deal with me clear.
“Let me see your keys.”
I got in, tried all my tricks, and ended up calling for a tow. Then, I joined Emma and Liam standing in the median. “Anybody hungry?”
TWENTY-SIX
EMMA
MARCH
“That wascrazy the other night when Leroy dropped his gloves. I can’t believe he still does that at his age.”
Harlan chuckled and sat back as our server came through with appetizer plates and a piping hot dish of brussels sprouts. He handed out the plates.
“I’ll tell him you said that,” Harlan said. “We take any opportunity to give Leroy shit about his age.”
“You shouldn’t!” I said. “I can’t imagine doing what you all do at my age.”
“Yeah, grandma,” Liam teased.
“Hey,” Harlan warned, but I just stuck my tongue out at Liam.
“Liam likes to pretend I’m old when I’m probably the youngest mom in his graduating class.”
“Yeah, do you know how annoying it is to get the constant ‘your mom’s hot’ comments?” Liam added, forking a brussels sprout directly off the shared plate.
I slapped the back of his hand. “Use your plate!”
“Well, your mom is hot,” Harlan said. “But your high school cronies can’t have her.”
“Ew!” I objected. “Like I’d even consider that. That’s disgusting.”
“Oh, but twenty-six is okay?” Liam jabbed.
“Harlan is anadultand is very mature for his age,” I said, and he narrowed his eyes at me. “Sometimes.”
His head sagged onto his shoulders. “There it is.”
Liam and I carried on, but I noticed Harlan mentally checking out. Did I actually hurt his feelings? We joked around all the time and really, he’d been nothing but good to me.
I mean, he was annoying at work and took delight in tormenting me in the bedroom, but that was all part of the fun.
“Royce?” Liam looked at him expectantly.
Harlan shook out of his daze. “What? Sorry. Zoned out.”
“I said I can’t believe you guys are third in the division.”
“Right? Don’t jinx it, though. We still have to win tomorrow, and a whole bunch more. It’s too early to run clinching scenarios for the playoffs. How’s your team doing?”
Liam looked a little more distant. “Our last game is coming up. Senior night. Then the playoffs.”
My heart squeezed. Everything about the impending transition in our lives gave me pause. I was unflappably proud of Liam. I was sad to think he wouldn’t live with me anymore, but even more, I was afraid of how it would go if he didn’t leave.