Page 105 of Fourth Point Of Contact

“You can’t help what doesn’t need to be fixed,” I sighed.

But she ignored me and turned for the closet, grabbing the few dresses that were hanging. She didn’t even bother to fold them neatly. Instead, she balled them up and tossed them in her bag.

I hopped over to her and placed my hand on top of hers. “Mom…stop packing.”

“I shouldn’t have come.” She wiped the tears from her face and sniffled.

“I’m glad you came.”

She huffed out a laugh as more tears fell. I was going to hell. “The only thing I’ve done since the moment I got here is make you miserable. I don’t know what I was thinking.”

“You were thinking that you wanted to take care of me. And I’m sorry I haven’t made you feel welcome. I’m just not used to having someone in my space.”

“I really wasn’t trying to push. I just…I thought it would be nice.”

“For me to meet a woman and fall desperately in love with her?” I hedged.

“I know it’s silly.”

“It’s not silly for you to want that, but you’re forgetting who I am.”

“Oh, honey,” she chuckled. “I haven’t forgotten who you are. You are an eternal bachelor, destined to leave me with no grandkids to enjoy my final years.”

“That’s slightly depressing,” I muttered.

“Well, what can I say? I long to hold a baby in my arms and smother it with kisses.”

I cringed at the image. That was the last thing I wanted. If anything, I avoided kids like the plague. For others, they were fine, but all that responsibility that came with caring for another human just wasn’t something I was interested in.

“Just…lay off a little, okay? I like having you here, but I really don’t want to fend off women left and right.”

She sighed, glancing at the clock. “Well, what are we going to do about tonight? I already invited them over.”

“And I suppose it would be rude to call them and cancel.”

My mother knew me all too well, that I would do it in a heartbeat, but for her, I would suffer through it.

“It’s just one dinner.”

“Yeah,” I huffed in amusement at the hopeful look on my mom’s face. “Just one dinner.”

24

PIPER

Piper,

You know, sometimes life really sucks.

That’s all I have to say about that. As for how my leg is, it’s still attached and pissing me off. On the bright side, it’s still attached. On the downside, the moment I came home, my mom decided to visit. Chase outed me to her with cow porn—there’s more to the story, but I think you can get the severity of the situation—to which she demanded I go to church to pray for my soul.

Now, she’s trying to set me up with every single woman within a fifty-mile radius so I have someone to look out for me. She’s terrified that I have no one here with me, and until I do, she won’t leave.

Do you have any idea what it’s like to spend that much time with your mother as a grown man? It’s just not right.

Send reinforcements. I won’t survive another month with my mother.

Desperately seeking sanity,

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