Page 59 of A Favor Owed

“Brady Patrick McDaniels!”

This is not happening. I feel like that Ron kid fromHarry Potterwhen his mother sent him an exploding letter that screamed at him in the dining hall. Except mine is here in the flesh. “Ma! What the hell are you doing here?”

“Oh, I think I should be asking that of you, son, wouldn’t you say?” She lifts her chin at Cliff, who’s watching this unfold with interest. “A Guinness and a plate of wings, please.” She turns back to me. “So, is this her?” She jerks her head at Angela, who’s staring between both of us, looking completely bewildered.

“Uh, Mom, this is Angela,” I say. “Angela, my mom, Deirdre.”

“Oh, um, nice to meet you?” says Angela, extending her hand uncertainly.

My mom ignores it and glares at me. “You’re having drinks withher? What’s going on here, Brady? And what on God’s green earth made you think it would be okay to do this behind my back?”

“Mom, this is not the time or the place,” I say, my heart racing like crazy. “I’ll explain everything. Just sit down and relax for a minute. Look, here comes Cliff with your beer.”

“You know what, I’m going to go…” Angela looks pale and not a little bit pissed.

“Good idea,” snaps my mom. “Stay away from my son.”

“Mom!”

“Oh, don’t worry,” says Angela, already out of the booth and glaring at me. “I’ll be staying far away from your son.”

“Angela, wait!” No, on second thought, that wouldn’t be good. “I mean, I’ll call you.”

“Don’t bother. I’m blocking your number.” And with that, she stalks out of the bar.Shit.

My mom sits down in the spot vacated by Angela and takes a long drink of the beer that Cliff placed in front of her. “Explain yourself, Brady. Now.”

“Does Dad know you’re here?”

“Not yet.”

“Ma! That’s nuts! He’s probably worried sick.” I pull out my phone and text my dad.

“Enough stalling, Brady,” says my mom once I’ve put my phone down. “I want to know, first, why you gave up Columbia Law School and moved across the country; second, why you kept all of this from me; and third, why the hell you’re apparently involved with the girl who got us into this mess in the first place. Begin.”

I sigh. “I didn’t give up Columbia. I just deferred. As I’ve been saying the whole time, I’ll be there for the spring semester, and I’ll stay in New York permanently. I kept it from you because I didn’t want to freak you out or piss you off, but I obviously now realize that completely backfired. And I’m not involved with her. What you just witnessed was her telling me in no uncertain terms that I’m not involved with her.”

“This is completely insane, Brady,” she says, her eyes filling.Oh no.

“Ma, please don’t cry,” I beg her.

“This was a huge betrayal of my trust,” she says. “I can’t believe you would do this…”

“Ma, please.” Jesus, this is a mess. Fortunately, Cliff brings the wings over at that moment, giving her a chance to recover. “Look, Ma,” I say. “The last thing I wanted to do was hurt you. Dad was trying to help those families and then somehow Angela got involved. She doesn’t know, Ma. She doesn’t know who I am or that Dad is my dad.”

“What?” she whispers. Her phone starts ringing, and she tears her gaze away to glance down. She answers it. “I’m fine, Con. I’m with Brady. Let’s talk about it later, okay? I’ll be home tomorrow.” She listens to whatever my dad is saying, then says goodbye and ends the call. “So, Angela doesn’t know anything? I almost, like, gave it away?”

I shrug. “Yeah, you could say that.”

“Oh my.” Then her eyes flare again. “All the more reason for you and your dad not to have left me out, Brady. Of all the ridiculous, hare-brained, obnoxious things to do…”

“I know, I know,” I admit. “But now you know.”

“And she doesn’t.”

“No.” I look down and grab a chicken wing, start to eat it just for something to do.

“You actually like this girl. She’s the one you told Siobhan about.” She grabs the chicken wing out of my hand. “Does Dad know about that, too?” she asks with a hurt-filled glare.

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