Page 73 of Single Mom's Secret Diary
Trepidation creeps in, but I wipe my mouth on a towel and come back through the kitchen to the front door. I’m braced for one or all of the men, but when I spot the small, middle-aged Asian woman on the stoop, I know exactly who she is.
She’s holding a bag full of containers. They jiggle when she points at me past my father’s shoulder. “Time for us to speak.”
This must be Ezra’s mom, Mai.
“Yes. Why don’t you come in?” I gesture her inside and my dad out the door. We gather toward the kitchen when Ezra’s mom stops in her tracks.
Charlie looks up from his plate, his broken arm propped on the table in its cast.
She gasps, hand going to her chest as she mutters something I can’t understand. I step up beside her, winking at Charlie, who smirks. “Would you like to meet your grandson?”
Mai marches over to the table and puts her bag down in the empty space. Pulling things out, she looks at him and shakes her head. “You look just like my Ezra at that age. Nine?”
Charlie perks up. “I’ll be ten soon.”
I peer at my dad, who’s silently taking in this exchange. He reaches a hand out to me, and I take it, letting him reel me into the kitchen to give them some space. We’re being ignored, anyway.
I’m handed another cannoli. Like my dad knows. He’s too observant. I crunch into it as Charlie tastes a little of everythinghe’s offered. Mai tells him about everything she brought while I sit here, wonderingwhat the fuck?
How did she find us, exactly?
When they’re through, she pets his hair. “Will leave for you.”
“Cool. Thanks,Bà.” And he’s up from his seat. “I’m going to finish my tournament on my iPad while you and Mom talk.”
I laugh. Talk about observant. He’s too muchmyboy sometimes.
When Mai turns to me, there’s a glimmer in her eyes, and her hand is back against her chest.
“Would you like a cannoli and a cup of coffee?” Dad offers. He’s much better at the niceties than I am, but it’s been a day, so I’m not feeling too nice.
Mai nods and pins me with her sharp gaze. “Why do you keep me and my son from my grandbaby?”
I blink at her, understanding a bit more how Ezra isn't put off by my abrupt inquiries. “I didn’t know how to find him?—”
“Yet you still wait after finding him again. Very disrespectful.”
I shake my head, folding my arms over my stomach. “Your son and I have trust issues.”
“Psh. Does not matter when you have a child.” She bats my answer away like it's a fly.
Anger simmers as I narrow my eyes at her, and Mai narrows hers back.
“It matters more when there’s a child involved.”
The pang of new life low in my belly makes the cannoli creep back up. I wasn’t being careful enough. Again. I should know better by now.
All of this stress is not helping.
“No. He is not dangerous to Charlie. Personal feelings are for you and him. Not Charlie.” She waves her hand. “You listen. Yes?”
“Sure.” Not like I seem to have a choice in the matter.
“You are the girl he mooned over in college. Was never the same after. No girl was good enough. No girl was you. And now, he has you again, you throw his heart back in his face. Again. What does this teach Charlie? To run from his problems? To remain a child and not grow up? To take easy way? Is that how you raise him? Let me tell you how I raise my Ezra.”
I take the hot chocolate my father offers me, and he gestures for us to sit back at the kitchen table where our lunch has been abandoned. And she tells us about the things he’s done to take care of her.
The odd jobs as a teen, getting a scholarship to go to college with his hockey skills, working on the weekends while he was away to send cash back to her, getting injured and earning his degree. Opening the candy business based on her favorite treats back home. The ones she missed so much but couldn’t afford.
