Page 41 of Social Sinners

“Better than I anticipated. I’ll fill you in tonight. Look,” I said, stopping him before we stepped inside. That way if he flipped out, no one would hear it. “I hope it’s all right, I invited her to stay with us until we can get the house sold and find her a place of her own. She doesn’t want to be here, which I more than understand. This place has a dark cloud over it, and I can feel it creeping through me.” I totally should’ve asked him first before doing this, but it was a spur of the moment decision, and it was my mother. I only hoped he’d understand and wouldn’t be mad.

“D, this is your mother. You don’t even need to ask. If you felt compelled to have her stay with us, then there was a reason why. She does know about me… well about us, right?”

“Yeah, shocked the hell out of me when she didn’t even flinch when I told her. Jay told her he had a boyfriend too, and all she said was that she was happy for us.”

“Um, good because I sorta brought him with me,” he said fidgeting.

I smiled, seemed even though we both made decisions without the other one we knew deep down that it would be okay if we did. That, to me, was the sign of a healthy relationship, “how can you sorta bring someone with you?” I teased him.

He waved to the car and the face I hadn’t noticed sitting in the front seat, starred back at me. Nathan got out, nervously walking towards us with his head hanging down and his fists balled in his front pockets. “Hey man,” I addressed him, “thanks for being here for Jay and me.” That seemed to perk him up.Who knew I could be anything other than an asshole? I’m shocking the hell out of myself today.

“No problem,” he said, sticking to his two syllable replies.

“Come on, guys. Let’s go meet mom.” The three of us went inside, finding Jay sitting on my parents’ bed, watching mom silently empty her drawers into the suitcases.

“Hey,” Jay perked up at seeing Nathan.

“Mom, this is my boyfriend, Easton.” He extended his hand, she looked down at it and then back up at him.

“You’re family now. Handshakes are too cold for family.” She wrapped her arms around him as she had done to me earlier, and this time I was the one fighting back the waterworks.

“I’m so sorry for your loss, Mrs. Taylor,” Easton told her.

“Please, call me Sharon,” she turned to Nathan. “You must be the one my baby boy is smitten with?”

“Um,” he froze, once again looking like he was gonna run for the hills.

“Mom, that’s my boyfriend Nathan,” Jay told her, saving him from further embarrassment.

She reached up, cupping Nathan’s right cheek in her hand, “It’s all gonna be all right, trust me. Trust in my boys.” The four of us stood stock still, mouths agape. It was like mom had some sort of sixth sense and could feel the torment churning inside that kid.How did she know?

“Boys, why don’t you see if there’s anything out of your rooms you want to take with you while Easton and I work in the office?” she suggested.

When I walked into my room, I was stunned to find nothing had changed, while also realizing there wasn’t a damn thing I wanted to keep from it. Growing up, we weren’t allowed to hang anything on the walls. I never played sports, so I had no trophies. I had very few toys because none of the ones I wanted were approved by my father. The books I had again were chosen by him. There was literally nothing I wanted to salvage from my childhood. I closed the door on that chapter in my life, literally, and met them in the office.

“Sharon, did Mr. Taylor have any of his final wishes written down? Cemetery preference? Cremation or burial? A living will? Anything?” Easton asked her.

“His family are all buried at Floral Hills Cemetery in Lynnwood. I know he wanted a service; he spoke many times about the number of followers who’d attend to pay their last respects,” she was saying all of this without sorrow. Was she relieved he was gone?

“Okay, my father is taking care of the funeral arrangements, so I’ll let him know,” I watched as he typed a message on his phone before returning his attention to the stack of papers he had in hand.

“Mom, why don’t you finish packing and I’ll help Easton sort through the files in here? Tell Jay and Nathan to put your things in the back of my truck.”

“All right,” she said, stopping beside me. “I like him, Ethan, he’s adorable.”

“Ha-ha, yeah he is, and he’s a keeper.” I leaned over, kissing the top of her head, remembering the scent of her perfume as it filled my senses. It didn’t take long to locate the papers we were looking for. One thing I had to give my father credit for was his organization skills.

“Check this out, there are two other variations to his will beneath the most recent top copy. The first one removed me, and the second did the same to Jay. That man was a real piece of work. It’s okay to abuse your family but suck a dick, and you’re as good as dead to him.” Fuck, even in death that man still pissed me off.

“Does she want to sell the house?” Easton asked me.

“She’s hinted at it, flat out said she didn’t want to be here anymore. I’m sure she’ll sell the church too.” Saying it was passed down from one bastard to another led me to believe she was done with it. Between that and the house, she could end up coming out of this deal set for the rest of her life. Not that I’d let her pay for the condo, that would be my gift to her. Seems I had a lot of misplaced anger over the years I needed to make up for.

Mom wanted to leave shortly after that to avoid the ladies from church she knew would show up at any moment. She wasn’t very fond of them. Later that night after mom was settled in and everyone had called it a night, I sat in the office, challenging myself to write a eulogy for my father. What I ended up with was a new song. An angry, rage-filled one at that. Definitely not something to be read in front of his congregation, but once the words were written, I was shocked to feel a huge weight once again lifted in doing so.

Never Enough

I don’t give a fuck

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