Somewhere to Stay (Someone, Somewhere Book 1) by Grace Turner

Author:Grace Turner [Turner, Grace]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2024-03-16T00:00:00+00:00

I was sitting at my desk, trying to work and keep my mind off Theo—what he did to me earlier and what I hoped we’d do later—when my cell phone vibrated. I looked at the screen and smiled, trying to immediately dismiss any thoughts of Theo.

“Hey!”

“Hey, Mom. You at the office still?” Ryder asked, and it was good to hear his voice. He’d been so busy that we hadn’t spoken as often as we were used to. A text here or there and maybe a quick phone call was all we could manage on the best of weeks.

“Yeah, probably will be for another hour. What are you up to?”

“I’m actually going to grab a drink with some friends, but I wanted to call and check in. I miss you.”

My heart nearly burst out of my chest at that, and I sat back in my chair.

“I miss you, too, kid. So much.”

He filled me in on the projects he was working on and all the work he still had planned for the rest of the semester. He spoke with such enthusiasm that I worried he wouldn’t want to come back.

“But there was something else I actually wanted to tell you,” he said, and I immediately stiffened, preparing for the worst. “I’m not going to be able to come back for Thanksgiving.”

“Oh,” I said, both simultaneously relieved that it wasn’t something worse and sad that I wouldn’t get to see him for the holiday. “That’s okay, I understand.”

“I really tried, but we have a deadline for a project that falls right around that time, and⁠—”

“Ryder, don’t worry about it. I promise I’ll be fine.”

He sighed, and I heard commotion in the background. “Yeah, yeah. I’ll be right there,” he said to someone else. “Sorry, umm…well, at least you won’t be alone. I’m not sure if Theo plans on going to his boss’s place, but maybe you can go with him? I’m sure he wouldn’t mind.”

We hadn’t discussed Thanksgiving, but my mind immediately went to the plans we’d made the following day for Halloween. All they consisted of was spending the day in bed, eating as much candy as we could, and watching scary movies.

It was sweet of Ryder to worry.

“Yeah, I’m sure we’ll figure something out.”

He apologized again, and we said our goodbyes before he quickly hung up the phone.

I groaned, folded my arms over my desk, and laid my head down on top of them. Lying to Ryder was making me miserable. The immensity of our secret was tearing me up inside. It would have been easier if I regretted it or felt guilty. But I didn’t. My only regret was having to lie to my son about it. And I hated that Theo was in a similar position.

But neither of us was going to stop. Neither of us wanted to stop.

The world was a cruel fucking place.

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