doubt my mom even thought about Sylvia when she looked for my place.”
Sloane was stil looking incredulously at me, so I continued. “Until this morning when Reed told me about her, I didn’t know how badly it had
affected her. I don’t know how I would have reacted if I did. I do know that I never intended for it to be like that.” Sloane was starting to relax, so I kept
up the reassurance. “Real y. I don’t want to hurt her. I wil do whatever it takes to make this easier for her. Reed said you could help with that.” He
looked over at Reed, so I did too.
“Sloane, I believe him. Plus, we’re here now if he does try anything with Sylvia. We can deal with that if it happens. Right now, we need to figure
out how Sylvia is going to take this.” Reed said this seriously, and I was beginning to see that he didn’t take much seriously. Sloane responded to
that with a snort, but then took a deep breath.
“Wel , just know that if you screw this up and hurt her, you wil not only have to face Reed and me, but Kai wil ...wel , I’m not certain what she wil
do. But it won’t be good.”
Reed laughed again and I was a little worried.
We played bal then as we discussed possible ways for Sylvia to find out. I sucked at basketbal and only agreed to play because I wanted to get
to know them. It looked as if I was going to need their help. It wasn’t an overly sunny day, but it was very muggy. Between the humidity and
discussion of Sylvia I was ready to be done way before either of them. Final y, we cal ed it quits and headed back to the apartment. We stil didn’t
have a definite plan, but Sloane said not to worry about it. If I kept a low profile he’d figure something out.
So, in keeping with the low profile, I was walking into my parents’ house the day after I moved out. “Mom,” I cal ed out. Her car was in the open
garage, so I knew she was home.
“Quinn, dear.” She was surprised as I popped my head into the kitchen. “What are you doing home so soon? I was under the impression from our
conversation last night that you were going to be busy today. Are you done unpacking so soon?”
I leaned down to kiss the top of her head. “What, I can’t come home because I miss you?”
She arched her eyebrow up at me. “It’s barely been 24 hours. What is the real reason?”
“Real y Mom, can’t I just come home for supper? You know I can’t cook for myself.” She looked like she didn’t believe me but let it drop anyway.
I stood over the garbage can and started helping mom husk corn on the cob for supper. She told me about Grandma and Grandpa Lobato cal ing
last night. She fil ed me in on al the family news. My cousin was engaged, Grandma wanted to come visit soon, and I heard how Grandpa’s golf
game was going. I listened half-heartedly while I wondered about Sylvia and what would have happened if I had known how sad she was. Mom
cleared her throat and I came back, stil holding a partial y cleaned corn cob.
“So you just missed my cooking, huh?” She smirked at me but didn’t push.
“Have you met anymore neighbors yet?” She asked in almost a giddy voice.
“Wel I met Kai-ying, Sloane’s girlfriend, after I played basketbal with him and Reed this morning.”
“You played basketbal ?” my dad questioned as he came into the room. “I didn’t think you knew what one was.”
“Ha ha. Just because I’m not a jock doesn’t mean that I don’t know how to play. I just don’t know how to play wel .” I grinned back at him and gave
him a hug. “I learned to do a lot of new things while I was away. Sometimes I played with some guys from my floor at Princeton.” I shrugged. “After
Michael got me interested in Tae Kwon Do, I started trying other normal guy activities.” My roommate at Princeton had been a third degree black
belt, and helped out as an instructor at a local place. He got me interested with the promise that it would be a good place to relieve my
Sloane was stil looking incredulously at me, so I continued. “Until this morning when Reed told me about her, I didn’t know how badly it had
affected her. I don’t know how I would have reacted if I did. I do know that I never intended for it to be like that.” Sloane was starting to relax, so I kept
up the reassurance. “Real y. I don’t want to hurt her. I wil do whatever it takes to make this easier for her. Reed said you could help with that.” He
looked over at Reed, so I did too.
“Sloane, I believe him. Plus, we’re here now if he does try anything with Sylvia. We can deal with that if it happens. Right now, we need to figure
out how Sylvia is going to take this.” Reed said this seriously, and I was beginning to see that he didn’t take much seriously. Sloane responded to
that with a snort, but then took a deep breath.
“Wel , just know that if you screw this up and hurt her, you wil not only have to face Reed and me, but Kai wil ...wel , I’m not certain what she wil
do. But it won’t be good.”
Reed laughed again and I was a little worried.
We played bal then as we discussed possible ways for Sylvia to find out. I sucked at basketbal and only agreed to play because I wanted to get
to know them. It looked as if I was going to need their help. It wasn’t an overly sunny day, but it was very muggy. Between the humidity and
discussion of Sylvia I was ready to be done way before either of them. Final y, we cal ed it quits and headed back to the apartment. We stil didn’t
have a definite plan, but Sloane said not to worry about it. If I kept a low profile he’d figure something out.
So, in keeping with the low profile, I was walking into my parents’ house the day after I moved out. “Mom,” I cal ed out. Her car was in the open
garage, so I knew she was home.
“Quinn, dear.” She was surprised as I popped my head into the kitchen. “What are you doing home so soon? I was under the impression from our
conversation last night that you were going to be busy today. Are you done unpacking so soon?”
I leaned down to kiss the top of her head. “What, I can’t come home because I miss you?”
She arched her eyebrow up at me. “It’s barely been 24 hours. What is the real reason?”
“Real y Mom, can’t I just come home for supper? You know I can’t cook for myself.” She looked like she didn’t believe me but let it drop anyway.
I stood over the garbage can and started helping mom husk corn on the cob for supper. She told me about Grandma and Grandpa Lobato cal ing
last night. She fil ed me in on al the family news. My cousin was engaged, Grandma wanted to come visit soon, and I heard how Grandpa’s golf
game was going. I listened half-heartedly while I wondered about Sylvia and what would have happened if I had known how sad she was. Mom
cleared her throat and I came back, stil holding a partial y cleaned corn cob.
“So you just missed my cooking, huh?” She smirked at me but didn’t push.
“Have you met anymore neighbors yet?” She asked in almost a giddy voice.
“Wel I met Kai-ying, Sloane’s girlfriend, after I played basketbal with him and Reed this morning.”
“You played basketbal ?” my dad questioned as he came into the room. “I didn’t think you knew what one was.”
“Ha ha. Just because I’m not a jock doesn’t mean that I don’t know how to play. I just don’t know how to play wel .” I grinned back at him and gave
him a hug. “I learned to do a lot of new things while I was away. Sometimes I played with some guys from my floor at Princeton.” I shrugged. “After
Michael got me interested in Tae Kwon Do, I started trying other normal guy activities.” My roommate at Princeton had been a third degree black
belt, and helped out as an instructor at a local place. He got me interested with the promise that it would be a good place to relieve my
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