She doesn’t have to say what she’s thinking. I’m thinking about it, too. If I hadn’t lied like this, I would have made a stronger case.
I know that most of this is out of my hands and it’s up to the courts. I knew that going into this. So why did I freak out and insist on saying anything to Georgie? Why would I ask her to pretend to be engaged so I could make sure I got custody of Duncan?
Because it’s what your friend wanted, for you to take care of Duncan, so you wanted to look as good as possible, says the little angel sitting on one shoulder.
Because you are in love with her and wanted to make your case, like having your cake and eating it, too, says the little devil sitting on the other one.
I hate them both.
“Levi, until you talk to Buzz, you can’t do a thing, so just do what doesnotcome natural to you,” Mom says. “You’ve gotta wait.”
I tap my head against the back of the chair and stare at the sky. It’s hot today, the summer heat is starting to kick in. Maybe I’ll take Duncan down to the river for a swim. In case it’s myonly chance to do it before someone comes along and takes him away from me, that is.
“While you wait, you can do something to figure yourself out, though.”
I glance over at my mother, tapping away on her iPad, scrolling through and looking at ice cream recipes. She is obsessed.
I tap my foot on the porch a few times. “What? What can I do to help this?”
“You could dissect the feelings you have for Georgie so you can put that to rest once and for all,” she announces matter-of-factly. Austin stands by her chair, nodding his head like a parrot agreeing with its master.
“That’s easy for you to say; you don’t have skin in the game like I do.”
“Skin in the game? You’re hiding behind a fictional idea of an engagement. THAT is not having skin in the game, it’s playing house or testing the waters. Why buy the cow when you get the milk for free—”
“Pretty sure that’s not what that saying means,” Austin tries to interject, but Mom won’t let him.
“You, no talking.” She wags a finger at him. “As his brother, it’s your job to make sure he’s on the straight and narrow, and this whole plan is not straight nor is it narrow. It is wide and wiggly and has gotten him into trouble.”
She then turns to face me again. “However, we’re going to fix it.”
I raise an eyebrow. “We are?”
She nods. “I feel like you’ve been attempting to play a long game; you just did it stupidly.”
I can’t argue. Mother knows best. “Why didn’t you, of all people, try to stop me?”
“Because, Levi, something you’re going to have to learn ifyou do get custody of Duncan is that sometimes you have to let your kids make their own mistakes.”
Mic. Drop. MC Mary Porter in the house, ladies and gentlemen.
“Okay, that’s fair.” I tilt the chair so it teeters on its hind legs. “What do I do now?”
“Put that chair on all four legs before you bust your chin open, that’s what,” she mumbles, waiting for me to do just that. I do as I’m told because I will never be too old to listen to my mother. Never.
“If you’re going to try to woo her,” Austin offers while I pray what he’s saying is going to actually be helpful, “you also need to talk to her about that social media post I saw.”
My mother’s lips go into a tight line. “What post?”
Austin opens his phone and shows it to my mother. As soon as she’s done, I hold my hand out. I’ve not seen it yet, only heard about it from Georgie. As I read it over and skim the comments, I can see why she’s feeling vulnerable and pulverized by all of this at the moment.
“That poor girl, and you didn’t take into account what can of worms could be opened when she’s with you.” Mom tilts her head to the side as she raises her hand to shield her face from the sun. “Talk about learning a hard lesson.”
The brevity of this whole situation sits on my chest like someone dropped a weight on it. The lies being said about my beautiful friend, inside and out, who has been through so much are horrible, and the fact she’s been thrust into all of this because I wanted it? I’m feeling like I overstepped here and in a big way.
But is it overstepping when you’ve been secretly in love with someone for over a year? When their name pops up and you feel a blast of ice go through your veins because you know that they’re in the world and under the same sky as you? There were nights when I was on the road and the one thing that keptme going was looking forward to a call with Georgie, glancing up at the moon and knowing she was seeing the same one I was.
“I need to fix things with her, and I need to do it fast.” My eyes flicker back and forth between my mother’s and Austin’s. “But I don’t know what to do, and y’all have seen that when I’m left to my own devices, I pick the wrong street to turn down. Help.”
