Page 19 of Stay for Me
My hand clasps his shoulder. “Those are the breaks, kid. All moms are just wired to know the way it goes. It sucks.”
“Does your mom know when you’re telling the truth?”
“My mom died when I was your age, but when she was alive, she always knew. It’s why I thought she was an alien or something because no matter what lie I told, she figured it out. And if I did something wrong, somehow, Mom could always tell.”
He leans in, voice quiet so only I can hear. “They’re not normal.”
“I agree,” I whisper back.
“I heard that,” Brenna informs us.
“See,” Sebastian counters.
I nod. “They’re aliens.”
“Aliens or whatever, you guys have fun. I’m planning on running Melanie to the store, but I won’t be far or gone too long. I assumed you’d be fishing at least an hour?”
“Definitely. We’ll probably be much longer than that. Is there anything he needs to be home for?”
She shakes her head. “I have no other plans.”
“Great. We’ll be off and hopefully we’ll bring back something to cook.”
Her face goes a little pale. “Sounds . . . great.”
Sebastian laughs. “Mom might be an alien, but her weakness is fish guts.”
“Good to know. We’ll do all the work so she doesn’t have to see it,” I say with a wink.
We turn to leave, but Brenna clears her throat, causing the two of us to halt. What is it about women and the throat clear? She looks at her son with her head tilted and puts her coffee mug down. “Are you forgetting something, Sebastian?”
He smiles and heads toward her. His arms wrap around her middle, and they hold each other tight. She ruffles the top of his head before letting him go, and my chest tightens. It’s such an innocent gesture, but one that my mother would do each time she hugged me.
“Now, go have fun, be good, and please don’t forget your sunscreen.” Brenna smiles at me, lifting her hand with a wave.
He huffs the way a boy does when his mother embarrasses him, and I grin. “Do you need a helmet or something to ride?”
Sebastian’s eyes fill with horror. “No!”
I laugh. “All right, I just don’t know any of this stuff.”
“If you asked my mother, I’m sure she’d say we do, but she’s a little paranoid about my getting hurt.”
“That’s a woman thing. My brothers’ wives are the same. Let’s head out, and we’ll hopefully catch something good.”
The ride back to the creek isn’t long since we cut through Sydney’s property to get to mine. The weather is perfect for being out like this. We’re at the beginning of where spring and summer meet, so it’s cooler in the mornings, but midday is perfect.
We set up, and it doesn’t take me long to realize Sebastian is a pro. He feeds his line, ties off the lure, and scopes out a spot. “I think over here the rocks will allow the fish a chance to bite.”
I nod in agreement. “Good call.”
“My dad and I fished a lot.”
“Your mom mentioned that. I remember your dad being out here when we were kids.”
Sebastian gives a reluctant smile. “He loved the water. He loved to get me up before anyone else so we could go fish. The week before he deployed, Mom would wake up to find us gone every morning, and . . . it was our thing.”
It breaks my heart to hear the pain in his voice, but I understand it. Things my mother did with us that never happened again was not easy to accept. There’s nothing that will make it better other than time.
