Series: Fever Falls Series by Riley Hart
Total pages in book: 96
Estimated words: 92704 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 464(@200wpm)___ 371(@250wpm)___ 309(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 92704 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 464(@200wpm)___ 371(@250wpm)___ 309(@300wpm)
“Look at those ears and see what I’m talking about,” I said to Sawyer. “And that nose.”
“They’re not that bad,” he said with a laugh.
“I loved your old nose,” Mom said. “It made you unique.”
“Oh, suddenly I’m not unique anymore? You’d rather have me go back to middle school when they shouted, ‘Fly, Dumbo, fly!’”
She rolled her eyes and turned to Sawyer. “Please. He goes on and on complaining about those ears, but unlike most kids, he never had to worry about falling…he would just sort of glide to the ground.” She turned to me and winked.
I laughed my ass off at that, as did Sawyer.
“Sawyer, I don’t know what he’s told you about that nickname. Yes, they called him that one time in middle school. It was just kids being mean. And my little son came home and cried his eyes out about it for hours, and I did my best to make him feel better, but you know how kids are. I thought they would get over it and move on to something else. Have you seen the Dumbo movie? This little elephant has this little hat and big floppy ears that allow him to fly. And he has this red-and-yellow collar around his neck. So what did my brilliant little boy do the next day? Crafty thing that he is, he used construction paper to make up the little hat, he added gray construction paper to go over his ears, and he made the collar too. Now, I didn’t know how this would go over, but he walked out the door, confident as ever. Carter just had this way of making people laugh, and suddenly, he was the most popular kid in his class.”
I felt myself blushing, yet also filled with pride. “It’s true, though.”
“Just like the movie, everyone fell in love with my little Dumbo.” She stroked her hand across my back, smiling brightly. I could feel her pride in her son’s triumph, the way she always acted toward my victories.
“He definitely left that part out, Ms. James,” Sawyer said, eyeing me suspiciously.
“I told you, I know people. And it’s hard for them to make fun of you when you’re the one making fun of yourself.”
“Clever kid,” he added, and I winked at him, feeling particularly arrogant about my clever seventh-grade self.
“But even though I could survive childhood bullies, I’m glad I pinned them back.”
We looked through a few more pictures before Mom headed into the kitchen to check on the lasagna.
Sawyer scooted closer to me as he skimmed through the photo album.
“You realize you’re never going to be able to unsee these, right?”
He laughed. “I’ll take my chances. Oh, here we go.”
He indicated another picture of me with my old ears and nose, and shrugged. “Eh, I’d fuck him.” His expression twisted up. “Wait. How old are you—”
I busted into a laugh. “Relax. That’s college. Totally legal.”
He searched around before turning back to me and whispering, “Your mom, she’s definitely not what I was thinking, given the things you mentioned.”
“Yeah, she’s a bit of an enigma. This is why it’s so hard for me. She has this side that’s all confidence, humor, and strength, and then this other side that’s anything but those things. But then again, don’t we all?”
“I don’t know that I can be on board with how she didn’t stick up for you when you were a kid. That’s what family’s supposed to do.”
“Well, join the club. I guess I’m the one guy she knows will be here through it all. That’s part of what hurts. They’re always first…and it feels like she’s back to me as soon as I can give her something they can’t.” As much as I loved her, at times it just felt like I was being used.
“Dinner’s ready, if you guys want to come in the kitchen!” she announced.
It was a nice distraction from a conversation I didn’t want to continue, so we headed into the kitchen and settled at the dining table. After taking a few bites, I decided we’d had enough fun and needed to get down to business.
“So what are your plans now?” I asked her. “You want to stay in Paducah?”
She quieted, pressing her lips together.
“Leaving is probably for the best,” I told her. “You know, we’ve done this enough to know that he could just want to get back with you, and—”
“Well, funny you mention that, because he actually called to say he was sorry.”
“What?” I couldn’t have sounded more irate if I’d tried. “He cheated on you, and he’s staying with that woman right now, but he called to make up, so you’re taking him back?”
“Can we not talk about that part in front of company?” she asked, obviously working to keep from looking at Sawyer.
“I think I might step out,” Sawyer said, setting his silverware on his plate and rising.