I had half the money. Shouldn’t I be happy? But for some unsettling reason, I wasn’t. This payoff represented a barrier between us—like a wall, half-built. The balance of our transaction would only complete that barricade, blocking us from each other forever. After his kindness the night before, I had to admit to the regret—even if I just allowed myself to wallow in it for a few moments before solidifying my resolve that things had to be this way. That it was for his protection as well as mine. We had the power to hurt each other. With this safeguard in place, it could never happen. We both knew it would end and exactly when it would end. Or so I hoped. There was still that niggling matter of why he kept putting this off.
I bent my head, resting my forehead in my palm for a long moment, and when I opened my eyes, I saw the key sitting on the table next to the computer. It wasn’t mine. There was a sticky note attached to it with neat, even printing that I did not recognize. It was an address—somewhere very close, near the Old Towne area at the center of the city of Orange. I stared at it, puzzled, starting to understand Heath’s description of where we were: Bizarro world with a sharp left turn into fucked-up land. When I inhaled, my chest felt tight, my heartbeat thumping. Was this a key to his house? Why the Orange address?
Just then the phone rang. I checked caller ID, blew out a breath and picked up the phone. “Hi, Mom!”
“Mia, where have you been all weekend? I was worried sick.”
I paused, clearing my throat. “I’m sorry. I got super busy. Extra shifts.”
“I called your work,” her voice trembled when she said it.
Fuck. Silence. Caught lying to her. I never lied to her. I squeezed my eyes shut, shaking. “I’m sorry.”
“What’s going on? Why are you lying to me?”
I gulped. “I—I’m fine. Okay? You don’t need to worry—”
“I’m a mother. I worry. If I can’t get hold of you, then I try to find out what the hell is going on. Heath—”
“Mom, please don’t call Heath anymore. We are kind of not on the greatest terms right now.”
“Okay, now I’m really worried. Can I come down there?”
I took a shaky breath. “I’m sorry, Mom. I just. I’m not ready to talk about it.”
“Are you—are you seeing someone? Is that it?”
I bit my lip. “Um.”
“Mia, do you have a boyfriend?”
“No.”
“Then what?”
“There’s someone. But I’m not ready to talk about it, okay?” And by the time I was ready to talk about it, he’d be long gone out of my life, so it didn’t matter anyway.
A long pause. “Is it serious?”
I cleared my throat. “No. Not even serious enough to mention, which is why I haven’t. I’m sorry I lied to you.”
“Mia, this is a good thing. I’m glad you’re dating.”
Dating. A ball of sickness bunched in my stomach, but whether it was because of the thought of actually dating or of lying to my mom about dating, I couldn’t tell.
“Mom, I promise that if there is anything to talk about, I will. Just…just you’ve got to let me go about this my own way, okay? Please?”
“Only on one condition. That you let me know where you are.”
“Of course. I have a new phone. I’ll text you the number, okay?”
We said good-bye soon after. She still had that distant, hurt tone to her voice and I felt like the biggest jerk for causing it. But the news that I was “dating” was probably a big enough shock in and of itself. She’d been bugging me for years, even though she never seemed to follow her own advice.
After dressing, I set aside the key and went back to the computer. With this unexpected free time—normally I’d just be returning from my shift about now and collapsing into bed, exhausted—I decided to while away a few hours in the game.
Katya, our fourth group member who was our regular healer, sent me an in-game message.
*Persephone tells you, “Hey Mia.”
*You tell Persephone, “Kat! Let’s go kill stuff.”
*Persephone tells you, “Can’t. I’m just logging off. Had to babysit my mainframes on the graveyard shift.”
*You tell Persephone, “Where have you been? I was getting worried that you’d vanished like FallenOne.”
*Persephone tells you, “What’s up with Fallen, anyway? Haven’t you chatted with him lately?”
*You tell Persephone, “No. He’s gone kinda weird. I think it had to do with my auction.”
*Persephone tells you, “Well, yeah…duh. He’s probably jealous as hell.”