Breaking Out by Gayle Parness Page B

home.
    “Hello?”
    “Mom? Hi.”
    She took in a quick breath, but when she
spoke her voice was calm and controlled. “Charlie. I’m so glad you
called. How are you? Are you and Jay okay?”
    “We’re fine, really. We were in the Sierras
for a few weeks and now we’re along the coast.” Fin scowled, but I
turned my back.
    “Where?”
    “Mom…”
    “Okay, I won’t ask.” There was a shuffling
sound. “Go away.” She’d whispered that to someone else in the room.
“Sash is trying to take the phone away. Don’t worry—I won’t give it
to him. He’d just spend the next ten minutes threatening you and
then you’d hang up and I wouldn’t get to….” Her voice had choked
up.
    “Mom…”
    “I got your note. It was wonderful. Thank you
for thinking of me. I love you, too.”
    The hand I was using to hold the phone felt
wet. I wiped it off on my jeans. “Mom, I’m…I’m sorry.”
    “For what, honey?”
    “For being such a douchebag for the last
year, maybe longer.”
    “We both messed up. I wouldn’t listen and
neither did you. I’m sorry, too. We can start with a clean slate
now, okay?”
    My hand was wet again. I almost dropped the
phone when I realized it was wet from tears. Good thing Jay wasn’t
here. “That sounds great.”
    “I’m…I’m proud of you. Are you eating
enough?”
    “Yeah, plenty, especially Jay.” I joked.
    “You have enough money?”
    “Yes.” We hadn’t run dry yet, but we were
spending faster than we thought we would.
    “Do you know when you might be coming
home?”
    “No. Probably not for a while.”
    There was an awkward silence, neither of us
knowing what to say. “Charlie,” she whispered. “You’re nothing like
him. I know it bothers you that you look a little bit like him,
but…”
    “More than a little bit.” I made an effort to
relax the hand I’d clenched against my thigh. Thinking about what
my birth father had done to Mom turned my stomach in knots. I’d
wanted to kill him so badly when I’d seen him in Faerie. He’d been
trying to pull the same BS with Mom he’d tried before. Fortunately,
Fin showed up to save me the trouble—at least I hoped Kennet was
history.
    Mom sighed. “You have a big heart. Plus
you’re a healer. Use those skills, not just the fae and demon
magic. You’ll see the world differently if you do. Kennet didn’t
have a healing bone in his body and his heart was a shriveled up
raisin.”
    Fin laughed. He must have heard her. “Who’s
with you?” she asked. “That didn’t sound like Jay.”
    I waited two beats. “Grandfather.”
    “What? The King of Faerie stopped by for a
visit? What’s wrong? Something happened, right?”
    He took the phone from my hand. “Little
mother, do not fear. Your son is well. I will see you at the winter
solstice, yes?”
    “Yes, Your Highness. But…”
    “Good.” He handed back the phone. “Short
goodbyes are best.”
    I held the phone to my ear. “Is Dad around?”
I asked.
    “No. He’ll be sorry he missed you.”
    “Tell him…tell him, hey.”
    “I will. And please take care of Samson. You
know how he gets if he doesn’t eat.”
    “Yeah, well, he’s a goat. He eats
anything.”
    “But does he digest everything?”
    “Uh. Good point.” That kind of mess was not
my favorite thing to clean up.
    A few more beats of silence passed between
us. “I love you, Charlie. I’m proud of you.”
    “You said that.” A strange tightness filled
my chest. I pulled my hood up.
    “Doesn’t hurt to hear it again, right?”
    “Love ya back, Mom.”
    I ended the call and handed the phone to
Finvarra, hoping he hadn’t noticed my baby-assed behavior. He
didn’t comment, but instead began to walk around the lake, stopping
to admire a flower or remarking on the sunset. By the time we were
half way around, it was dark and I was back together. He might be
the King of Faerie, but he had his human side.
    As he lit the path with warm shades of fae
light, we finally got down to