Page 62 of EverGreene
“So are those cookies I brought. Nice in parts, but other parts are sketchy and just may kill you if you’re not careful.”
“What did your family think about your move?” And there goes Mom again.
“Mom, this isn’t twenty questions. Let Ever eat without having to tell you her entire family history.”
“It’s fine, Loche.” Ever turned her attention back to Mom. “I’m an only child. My dad left when I was a toddler. My mom died around four years ago, leaving me without any kind of immediate family.”
“Shit.” Nix sat frozen, his fork suspended in mid-air in his hands.
Mom’s jaw dropped in conjunction, her brain short-circuiting as she stared at Ever in disbelief. “No wonder you left home. You poor thing.”
“No, I’m not a poor thing at all. Moving here was the best thing I ever could have done for myself. Since I’ve been here, I’ve secured a decent-paying job and a rental home in kind of a sketchy area, but that makes it affordable, so I’m not complaining. I’ve made friends, and I’ve had the experience of meeting your son. But between you and me, I haven’t determined whether that’s actually a fortunate thing or not.”
“Yeah. Us, too.” Nix chimed in, adding his own two cents, which was met with a reprise of my middle finger.
“You know, I almost turned down Loche’s invitation to come here because having dinner with one of my bosses sounded about as fun as a pap smear.” Ever quipped, likely trying to change the subject. “But then he told me Conrad wasn’t going to be here, so it made the decision a little easier.”
“Yeah, my brother is a first-class asshole,” my mom replied, “but he helped me with Loche’s dad and Loche. Even though I suspect he did so to try to limit the embarrassment to him.”
“What happened? Were the two of you getting divorced? Was Loche a teenage heathen? Come clean to me, Evie. He was a real juvenile delinquent, wasn’t he?” Ever glanced at me, raising a playful eyebrow.
Mom and I locked eyes, and I shook my head, indicating that I hadn’t yet told Ever what had become of my shitbag of a sperm donor or the fact that he’d met his end with a knife to the heart, inflicted by the child who was the spitting image of him. A child who, quite frankly, preferred to wear a mask rather than look in the mirror and see the face of a monster.
“Well, we didn’t get a divorce, but what happened achieved the same end result. The man isn’t in my life anymore, and that’s all that matters.”
“Oh, he died, then.” Ever covered her mouth, glancingbetween Mom and me as though she were at Wimbledon and information was being rallied between the two of us. “I’m sorry. I should have known I was going to say something I shouldn’t have. That seems to be my specialty.”
Mom smiled. “It’s okay, dear. But I think my son owes you a little bit of an explanation.” She looked up at me, ignoring my headshake as she mouthedYou need to tell her.“Loche, why don’t you and Ever have a chat while Nix and I clean up.”
“Yeah, Loche. Why don’t you and Ever have a nice, long chat. You know, tell her everything.” Nix eyed me, beginning to gather dirty plates from the table.
Yup, I was going to kick his ass at our next training.
“I’m really sorry,” Ever said, turning my attention back to her and her wide eyes that were staring at me as though she’d just backed over my dog.
“It’s okay, really.” I stood up from the table, nodding at the balcony. “Why don’t we go outside?”
A blast of cool air hit me as soon as I slid the sliding glass door open and Ever and I stepped onto the balcony. Great. I should have told her to grab her coat because she was already shivering. “Here,” I motioned for her to come closer to me. I put my arms around her, bringing her in closer to my body. “I’ll make it quick.”
“I bet you say that to all the girls.”
Was she making a joke, belittling my stamina on Thanksgiving? Fuck, she was brutal. But that was also kind of hot. Great, I’m now standing on my balcony, holding her close to my body for warmth, about to tell her I’m a murderer while sporting a chub. If there is a God and he or she is listening, please don’t let Ever notice and think that patricide made me horny.
“I’ve never brought a girl here, to be honest.”
“You’re kidding.”
“No, I’m not much for dating. Plus, Nix likes to walk around naked, so there’s that.”
“Too bad your mom and I had to ruin the holiday for him and make him put on pants.”
“He’ll get over it.”
“He seems to care about you.”
I looked down at Ever’s face as she peered out toward the city. “What about any of our exchanges today would make you think that?”
“You two rib each other, but there’s love there. It’s pretty obvious he would do anything for you.”
