This Time Is Different by Mae Wood

Author:Mae Wood [Wood, Mae]
Language: eng
Format: epub

Grady hadn’t shown up at the animal shelter like we’d talked about, but I still brought the little kitten home and settled on Honey for Honey Rider, the white bikini-clad badass from Dr. No. Grady, like his father, rarely failed to follow through on his word, so when I walked out of the shelter with Honey and Grady still hadn’t shown up, I knew that we weren’t good.

The apologies in my office got us halfway to good, but we needed to be better. We needed to be fully good. My house was no good. This had to be neutral. Over the years Bert and I had settled on a dive bar as our neutral turf for hard talks. But I couldn’t drag my teenager there.

An old school pasta at a windowless restaurant from the ’50s was our answer. I’d texted him that he was to meet me there. We ordered, and we ate, and we waited until the waiter set the check at our table for any real talk. Any talk about anything other than his Eagle Scout project and upcoming camping trip.

“Grady, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have. I’ll never do it again. And I love you.” The words spilled from me and I tried to hold the tears at bay by biting my lower lip. Inflicting a bit of pain to distract me from my regret.

“I’m sorry.” He exhaled the two short words. He didn’t look me in the eye, but I knew he meant it. Even as a toddler, when he did wrong, he hid. He didn’t hide under his bed or behind furniture anymore, but he hid with his eyes.

“Want to talk about it?”

“Not really, but I guess that’s why we’re here,” he said, slurping up the last of his Coke with a straw.

“If it really upsets you that much for me to date, I won’t.” And I meant it. I’d do anything for him.

“I don’t like you dating him.”

“I’m going to ask a very specific question, and I want, no I deserve, an honest answer. Do you not like Thomas or do you not like me dating?”

“What do you think?”

“I think you don’t like me dating at all.”

“Got it in one,” he replied, signaling the server for a refill on his Coke.

“Why? Is it because you want me and your dad to get back together? Because, Grady, sweetie, I love you so much, but that’s not happening. We’re different people. And, believe it or not, we’re happier apart.”

“He isn’t.”

Those simple words struck me to the core. I knew they weren’t true. But if they were true in Grady’s eyes, there was nothing I could say to convince him otherwise. Before I could speak, he did. “And, what are you going to do to this guy? Dump him?” He snagged a breadstick from the basket and leaned back in his chair, confident that he’d scored a direct hit.

“That’s entirely not fair,” I retorted in harsh whisper. If we were going to have it out, fine. But I was not going to cause a scene in a busy restaurant.

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