“Oh?”
“Mom, is Dad nearby? Can you put me on speaker?”
“Terry, our daughter’s on the phone and she wants to speak to both of us.” I hear my mom fumbling with the phone as she asks my dad how to put it on speaker.
“Hello? Brooklyn? This is Dad; we’re both here, sweetie. How are you doing?”
“Hey, Dad, I’m good. Listen, this is uncomfortable, so I’m just going to come out and say it, because I feel like I honestly don’t know what’s going on back home. But Neal and I . . . we’re not on a break.” The phone is dead silent on the other end. “We’re completely done and have been since before I moved out here. I don’t understand why he’s suddenly back in my life and telling people we’re working things out when I haven’t seen or spoken to him in months.”
“Oh dear,” my mother finally speaks.
“Sweetie, we had no idea,” my dad adds.
“I know, I talked to Mallory and I don’t have all the details, and honestly, I don’t care about them. I just need you guys to know that he’s lying. I’ve met someone else—someone who makes me incredibly happy. I’m trying to move forward with him, but I can’t if Neal is still trying to lie and weasel his way back into my life.”
“So he hasn’t talked to you at all?” my dad asks.
“No. He hasn’t even called or texted me, but for some reason, he’s telling you guys all sorts of crazy things. My guess is the same as Mallory’s: now that things didn’t work out between him and Becca, he’s trying to get back with me.”
“Well, that is not okay,” my dad says firmly. “I’ll go have a talk with him if you want me to, and set this young man straight. You know Silas will come with me; he never liked that boy much.”
I laugh at my dad’s bravado. “Dad, no, please don’t rope my brother into this.”
“Speaking of your brother, you need to call him. I know he’s busy with his job and his daughters, but he misses you.”
“I know, Dad. I will.” I do feel guilty that I haven’t kept up with my family as much as I should have. I miss my nieces even though they lived four hours from me back home in Illinois and I didn’t get to see them too often.
“Anyway, I’m going to call Neal and get to the bottom of all this, but in the meantime, can you guys please just have my back?”
“Absolutely! We had no idea, Brook. Now, more importantly, who is this man you’re seeing?”
“He’s someone really special to me. I promise to go into more detail soon when I come home for Christmas, but just know that he’s wonderful and he loves me.”
I hear my mom sniff and I know she’s crying. That’s one of the most amazing things about my family: If I ask them to have my back, they have it, no questions asked. I know Mal is worried things are moving too fast, and she might be right, but since the last time she and I talked, she’s just been blowing up my phone with questions about when she can meet him.
“Hey, sis! Bought my ticket!” I hear Mallory chime in.
“Oh, that’s your sister. Listen, she wanted to talk to you. Your mother and I have our casino night over at the country club, so we need to get going, but we love you so much. And don’t worry, Neal is dead to us.”
“Terry!” my mother chimes in. They hand the phone off to Mallory and head off to their game night.
“Hey, I’ll keep it quick, but I just wanted to let you know that I got my ticket to come see you next week, and also, Neal has been texting and calling me begging me to get you to talk to him.”
I rub my temples. Fuck, this isn’t going away.
“Don’t worry, though,” she says. “I told him to suck my ass and blocked him.”
“Ugh, I don’t even know what to do. I’m going to call him; I have no other viable option. I’m afraid if I block him, he’s going to show up out here or something crazy.” I shudder at the thought. An awkward phone call is a much better option.
“I’ll support whatever you choose. Just keep me posted. Let me know if I need to drive over to his apartment with Silas and a tire iron.”
“What the hell is with you guys? Dad said something similar. Just let me handle it.”
“Fine. So, what’s been going on with Tyler?”
“He asked me to go to his family’s Thanksgiving dinner . . . as his official girlfriend.”
“And? Does that make you nervous or anything?”