Answering the phone, I took another bite of my sandwich and finished chewing before saying hello. I hadn’t talked to my mom in a few weeks, other than through text, which was our usual form of communication since she was sometimes in another time zone. And I knew why she was calling.
“Hey, hon.” She waved, and behind her I could see the morning sun rising. “You look exhausted.”
“Thanks,” I answered dryly, though I was sure she didn’t pick up on my sarcasm because she was already on to her next comment.
“How’s everything going?”
I told her the minimum: that I was planning to stay near Sophia—though not why—and that I moved into another apartment because Sophia was heading back to the sorority house for the new semester.
“It’s fine,” I added. “Just a long day with the move and everything, but I had people helping, so it wasn’t too bad, I guess.”
“That’s good. Did you have to go far?”
“A few miles away from where I was.”
“Oh, I don’t know why I assumed you were in the same complex. I figured you just had to move because your short-term lease was up, and they had someone lined up to move in there soon.”
“No, I probably could’ve stayed, but the friends I made here were all moving too, so it was just as well. No point paying for a luxury apartment when I don’t really need it. Other than doing my schoolwork here, I probably won’t even be home too much.”
“Are you continuing with your internship?” My mom looked to her right, and I saw my stepdad come into frame with a cup of coffee.
Joe handed it to my mom and gave her a kiss on the forehead. “I gotta head out to a client meeting, but I’ll call you later and let you know what time to meet for dinner.”
“Oh, hey, Tayl,” he said with a wave, and I couldn’t help but cringe at the name. It’d always reminded me of the appendage attached to an animal’s butt.
“Hey,” I answered.
Even though Joe had technically been my stepfather since I was twelve, I’d never actually told him about my feelings on the nickname. Then after a while, it seemed strange to bring it up at all, especially when I didn’t see either one of them more than a couple of times a year.
I’d never been close with him, which really wasn’t all that strange since I wasn’t even that close with my mother. He seemed like a nice enough guy, and he certainly treated my mom well, but I’d never spent enough time with him to formulate a thorough opinion of the man, other than what my mom had told me.
“Where are you guys, anyway?” I asked.
“Australia,” my mom answered. “Joe’s company just acquired a client here, and we’re staying the month.”
“Looks beautiful there.”
“A bit too cold, but I certainly can’t complain,” my mom said with a smile at Joe before looking back at me. “What’s it like where you are?”
“Hot as hell.”
My mom laughed, and Joe disappeared. “Anyway, you were saying about your internship?”
“Oh, right. No, that’s done. I’m just going to find a job here and try to save some money. I won’t have to attend classes, so I’ll have more time. A few of my friends might have openings where they work, but I haven’t given it a ton of thought yet.”
“They must be some good friends if you decided to stay there. I thought you loved school.”
This was my mom’s way of probing for information about why I’d really left, because even though we weren’t as close as I would’ve liked, she still knew me better than a lot of people. I couldn’t pretend I’d simply wanted a change of scenery.
“I did.” The fact that it was the truth made me feel better about saying it. I had loved school—the classes, the people. Well, most of the people. “It just made more sense to stay here and finish everything online.”
It was hard to tell if she bought it, but thankfully she didn’t ask anything more about that.
“What’d your dad say when you told him?”
She looked like she winced at the thought, and I hesitated before saying, “He wasn’t exactly pleased with my decision, but I’m paying my own way, so there isn’t much he can do about it.”
“Paying your own way?” My mom looked like she’d been verbally slapped. “So he’s not helping you with school or housing or anything?”
“He agreed to pay for the rest of my degree. I guess he was afraid if he didn’t, I might not get to finish it. But he said I’m on my own for pretty much everything else.”
“You don’t have to be on your own, Tay. Joe and I are happy to help.”
“It’s really okay. I’ll be fine.”
“Are you sure? It looks like you could use some furniture and a few decorations.” My mom knew I didn’t like taking money from Joe, so even if I wasn’t sure I’d be fine, she also knew I’d say I was anyway. And I was sure part of the reason she was offering to help was because my dad had refused to, which only made me want to refuse more.
“Nope. I’m good,” I said, hoping like hell I would be.
Chapter Five
T A Y L O R
Claymont Community Center was located in a busy part of the city and in close proximity to three elementary schools, two middle schools, a high school, and a K-12 charter school.
From the research I’d done before my interview, I’d learned that the center offered a plethora of services to the community—everything from dance classes to cooking lessons to parenting seminars to literacy instruction. They even had a
