Mom cleared her throat and continued. “Somehow Glen got hold of my letter and contacted me, volunteering to provide his own information if that would help.”
Suddenly, Adam’s hand was on mine, and his fingers closed tightly. “You okay?”
I shrugged. “Sure. Why wouldn’t I be? Newsflash, my father’s an asshole. I already knew that.”
Mom sighed heavily. “It’s probably because the communication came from me. I’m sure he’s avoided anything with my name on it for legal reasons. I, ah, signed a non-communication agreement with him when he gave me the settlement over you. Don’t take it personally.”
I blinked. “Oh, I take it personally, Mother. How could I not? But I also know it’s not through any fault of mine that he reacts the way he does.” I picked up the envelope and went to tuck it inside my bag. “Thanks for the medical info.”
“When he gave it to me, Glen told me he wrote you a letter inside.” I froze and met Mom’s gaze. Her voice died out as she continued. “A personal note…”
“You met him?”
Mom nodded. “Yes. He asked to meet me. We had lunch, and it was very pleasant. He asked to meet you, too.”
My jaw loosened, and I gave the envelope an extra-forceful push into the tote bag I’d brought. “Interesting.” It was the only thing that popped into my head to say at that moment.
“He’s a good man, Mia. I think it would do you—”
I held my hand up. “No, please. No lectures. I’m fine, and I’ll continue to be fine, and I don’t need to meet the asshole himself—or his children or his nephews or cousins or anyone else related to him. As long as I have the medical information I need, I’m good.”
Mom wanted to say more—I knew she did—but her mouth snapped closed, and her gaze dropped from mine as she nodded vigorously.
Later, when we were in the driveway saying goodbye before getting in the car to go home, she held me tight around my neck and said quietly into my ear, “I would never make you do something you didn’t want to do. I hope you know that. But…I love you, and I’m sorry.”
I shook my head. “You have nothing to be sorry for.”
She nodded. “I do…I do. I’m sorry I didn’t make better choices.”
I kissed her on the cheek and reassured her again, but…there was something in her words. And when I examined my feelings deep down, I did acknowledge the resentment—even if just a tiny tinge of it—I felt toward her. If she’d made a better choice, I could have grown up with a dad like Peter…
But when I went down that path, it got weird. Because if Peter had been my dad, then Adam and I would have been first cousins. And, well, that was squicky, and I didn’t want to go there.
Eventually, I’d muster up the desire and courage to look at the report—maybe even read the letter. But for now, it wasn’t important.
Chapter 5
Adam
Emilia was silent on the way home, and I knew it was because of that bomb her mother had dropped on her during dinner. It usually took Emilia time to process things like that, and it was best to leave her alone to work through her thoughts. So I skipped the small talk as we drove. She reached out and took my hand, sliding over to lean her head on my shoulder. I kissed the top of her head and kept driving.
When we got home, I kept my phone off and asked her what she wanted to do until we went to bed. To my surprise and delight, she suggested we pull out our laptops and play Dragon Epoch together. We’d create brand-new characters on a different server to avoid getting chastised by our friends, who’d take offense at us logging on and playing without them.
I rolled a dark-haired woman named DirtyTshirtLuvr, complete with brand-new and shiny chain mail bikini. In retaliation, Emilia created a human male named Wedgie. And we laughed and did every stupid thing we could think of—like attempting quests way beyond our level and jumping off high places and going splat, leaving as many virtual corpses on the ground as we could. She joked about pulling trains using AoE spells and kiting mobs, but I wouldn’t let her. The innocent newbies around us didn’t deserve that.
“You’re no fun. I could start a guild war.” She pouted, the effect spoiled when she started laughing.
“Yeah, you could, but no,” I replied. “I’ll ban you.”
She narrowed her eyes. “Ban me from DE at your own risk. You won’t like what I ban you from, wedgie boy.”
“Very funny,” I said, finally closing my laptop and studying the glow of the computer screen across her beautiful features. “I’m not scared.”
Her dark eyebrow arched. “And why is that?”
“Because you would never ban yourself, and I know you like those certain activities as much as I do.” I winked.
Minutes later, we were upstairs in our bedroom, and I collapsed on the bed. I’d been figuring out how to circle back around to our awkward dinner conversation with her mom. Hence, I went for it.
“So how are you feeling about that news your mom dropped on you tonight?”
She shrugged out of her sweater then unbuttoned her jeans, dropped them onto the floor, and stepped out of them. My eyes glided down the long stretch of bare leg, and that familiar pressure of arousal rose up. In a few minutes, those mouthwatering legs would be wrapped around me, and every part of my body enthusiastically readied for it.
“Take a picture—it lasts longer.” She smirked then stuck her tongue out at me.
“If you didn’t want me perving on you, you would have gone and changed in your closet. If you’re changing out here, that means you want me to watch you.”
She reached around and unhooked her bra. The straps retracted, but she didn’t pull it off. Turning around, she demurely gazed at me over her shoulder, slowly sliding one side off her arm and then the other. “I don’t want to inflame your lust any further…”
“Yeah, you do.” I grinned, rolling onto my side and propping my head up on my bent arm to continue enjoying her show. To be extra obnoxious, I smacked my lips together. “My underpants are starting to feel tight.”
She laughed as she wiggled out of her panties. “Someone wants a bonus tonight? After that fun little nooner?”
“The nooner was the bonus. Tonight’s the regular.”