"We've been seeing each other and we've been...uhm, together a bunch," I said to her.
I was expecting horror.
Revulsion.
But her eyes just twinkled.
“Oh baby, you think I didn't know that?" she asked me with mirth in her voice. "Cody's a handsome man, I'm surprised you waited this long to take him for a spin."
Can I just say that what was going through my head at this point was simply, 'Oh My God'.
Take him for a spin?
"I mean, Kimberly, I've only been married to his father for a year; do you think that makes him your biological brother or something?" Mom asked.
When she saw my eyes, she let out a laugh.
"Is this what you're worried about, hun?" she asked me. When I nodded, she brought me over for a hug. "Oh, I love you so much, dear. Thank you for making your old mother smile."
When she let go of me, she was smiling. I was smiling back.
"You're such a good girl, Kim, I know you'll never go down the dark paths I did, and I'm relieved in a way," she told me. "I've done things that you can only probably find in an Eddie Cleveland book."
I rolled my eyes. I never liked it when Mom tried to tell me her sex stories and despite the fact that I had just confessed my taboo relationship, I didn't want to hear it from Mom either.
But at least she wasn't freaking out. There was that I guess. Now all I could do was wait.
Two.
That's how many months I've been waiting since I talked to Mom about Cody.
I mean, I've tried my best to get on with my life. Mayor Anders makes sure with the number of scandals gripping his administration that we're never short of work.
I try to go out with my friends, go to the gym, do some reading.
Of course, there's Dirty Lil' Angels; I
get a lot of fun from there.
But it all inevitably comes back and reminds me of Cody.
"Girl, you need to snap out of it, soon," Lisa tells me one Thursday afternoon as we're day drinking at the Central Park Boathouse. "You've been so mopey, it's starting to get me down."
I look at her.
"Have you gone to talk to Cody's dad at all?" she asks me.
And I realize that I haven't.
One.
That's how many minutes it took me to tell Lisa she was a doll and ask to get my bill.
Fifteen.
That's how many minutes it takes me in a cab to head down to Midtown to where Cody's dad has had his office.
I brush past his administrative assistant. Good luck trying to stop me.