Chapter Fourteen: Old Wounds
Bones
“You look tired,” Ryan commented as he let himself into the house. Amy had dropped him off to me this time, which was a rare occurrence, but she claimed she had an appointment of some kind in Holbeck, so it was convenient.
It figured. It was all about her.
“I had a late night,” I told him. I wasn’t going to go into detail with him, but I had been out with Harper on the cliff for hours, so by the time I dropped her off and got home myself, it was after midnight.
I felt disappointed that we didn’t sleep together, but what did happen between us was pretty great, the kind of thing worth remembering in my empty bed at night.
Even better was the talking we did. I felt like I knew her better than most people in my life and we’d only been seeing each other for a short time. Harper was a hard worker and I knew she worried that was all she had in her life, but I didn’t believe that. I thought she was funny and smart. Fun to be around, once she relaxed and stopped worrying about everything. She had to learn to turn off job mode sometimes, but once she did, she was great.
“You should get more sleep,” Ryan said, taking an apple from the fruit bowl on the kitchen counter and taking a huge bite of it.
“And what about you?” I asked. “Are you staying up late to talk to a certain girl on the phone?”
“What? No…” He avoided eye contact by looking at his half-eaten apple as if it was the most interesting in the world. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
I wasn’t buying it. I looked at him with narrowed eyes for a moment.
Finally, he started to squirm and looked ready to spill his guts.
“Okay, fine,” I said. “Keep your secrets. But if you’re getting sexually active, you come see me about some protection. I’d rather give you condoms than become a grandpa before I’m forty.”
“Dad!” Ryan’s cheeks went scarlet.
I felt a little bad for embarrassing him, but it was important that he knew I had his back. “Alright, we’ll drop the subject for now. Just let me know if we need to discuss anything.”
“Don’t worry. If I was ready to do that … I know where mom keeps her condoms. I could just take some if I needed them.”
“Oh.”
God, he is so grown up.
“Yeah, I found them right after she moved Holden into the house. She keeps them in the nightstand.”
“Wait, what?” I leaned my arms against the kitchen island. “Who the hell is Holden?”
“Mom’s new boyfriend. Did no one tell you?”
“She moved in with this man?”
“Technically, he moved in with us, but yeah.”
She didn’t say a word to me about it. What the hell is she thinking? “Are you kidding me?” I asked, going from calm to furious in seconds.
I didn’t really expect Ryan to answer, but he looked at me with an oh-shit expression.
I pulled my phone out of my pocket. “You stay here, I need to make a phone call.” I stepped into my bedroom as it would be better if this conversation was private.
Amy picked up on the fourth ring. “Hello, Bones.” She already sounded wary, but I didn’t know if that was because of the bad blood between us or if she suspected what I was calling about.
“Your boyfriend moved in with you?” I asked, not bothering with a greeting. No hiding my rage, but I wouldn’t have tried anyway. Amy deserved to know I was pissed.
“So?” she sounded impatient, like this wasn’t worth her time. “Why do you care? Don’t say you want me back.’
I scoffed. “My son lives in that house,” I said, talking to her slowly like I was explaining my problem to a child. How could she not see the problem here?