Page 146 of Home Game

Fuck me. She was right. I picked up the phone and hit redial.

“Mom?”

“Oh, thank goodness you answered,” my mom sounded panicked.

“What’s going on?”

“I’m at the airport.”

“What airport?”

“The Vancouver airport.”

I watched, distracted as Zoey pulled down her tank top. “What are you doing there?”

“Carole invited me to join her in Las Vegas. And I got a cheap flight from Vancouver to Vegas, but I needed a flight to Vancouver.”

“Uh huh.”

“And I got the dates mixed up. My flight to Vegas isn’t until tomorrow night.”

Now Zoey was pulling on her panties. “Wait, what?”

“I need to come and stay with you for one day.”

“You do?”

“Is that okay?”

I rubbed my forehead with the back of my hand. Nothing like getting totally cockblocked by my mom. “Yeah, sure.”

“And I need you to come and pick me up.”

“Take a cab. I’ll pay for it when you get here.”

“Ryan Andrew Parker, I’m not wasting good money on a cab when you can come pick me up.”

I laughed, despite myself. “Okay. Give me 30 minutes.”

My mom wasa flurry of activity, talking a hundred miles an hour. I half listened while trying to think of how to tell her about Zoey.

Finally, she caught her breath and asked me, “How are you?”

“There’s someone you will meet when we get to my place.”

“Oh,” she stopped. “A woman?”

“Yes.”

“Is she your girlfriend?”

“It’s complicated.”

“So it’s just a friend?”

“She lives with me.”

My mom’s face looked confused. “She’s your roommate?”

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