Out in the front yard I mill about not quite sure what to do with myself. I hadn’t brought any tools or the notebook or anything with me to keep me occupied, I didn’t even have my phone or shoes, and I wasn’t about to pop back into the house to grab something. So as not to look like I was loitering I busy myself with weeding the flower beds even though they didn’t need it.

  From where I was near the front gate I could hear the tense tone of Heather’s voice coming through the screen door without making out the specific words. I could have crept closer but I wanted to respect her and her son’s privacy. God, what a mess. Liam had been livid with me and he likely wasn’t going to be much better with his mother. This was going to hit Heather hard. My little ‘…though accurate…’ quip might have felt good in the moment but damned if I wasn’t regretting it now. Liam and I’s first interaction was never going go smoothly but I sure hadn’t needed to make it worse on my end by setting him off like I had. I didn’t care what he’d said to me or about me but I’d made things more difficult for Heather and that just killed me inside. It was so petty, so vindictive, so…childish. Heather was a mother, a homeowner, a boss and businesswoman, and the bedrock of her special family. If I was going to be with her I needed to step up and become a bigger man. I needed to grow up fast.

  “Hey bro.”

  A voice from across the street pulls my focus away from the house. Turning I see a tall, nky bearded man dressed almost identically to myself in t shirt, board shorts and bare feet though his tan was deeper than mine and his wavy blond hair much longer. It takes a second as the st time I’d seen him he was wearing the shades that now dangled from the neck of his shirt and his flowing locks had been back in a man bun but quickly I recognize him as one the frisbee guys from the other day.

  “Cooper.” I say as I rise and brush off my knees.

  “Coop.” He corrects me. “I thought it was you over here.” Coming up behind him is a short and pleasantly plump dark haired woman roughly our age. “This is my girl Cecilia.” He slips an arm around her and she happily presses into his side. In appearance the pair of them couldn’t have been more different. “Cee-Cee, this is the L-Man.”

  I hop the fence and jog across the road to join them. “The L-man?”

  “Well we can’t just call you Elliot.” He says. “That will not do.” He and I sp hands. “Ooo! L-Diablo.”

  I chuckle as I take her hand for a shake. “Nice to meet ya, Cee-Cee.”

  “You too, Elliot.” She says in a thick Portuguese accent.

  “This your pce?” Coop asks as he looks over Heather’s little house.

  “Uh, yeah. Yeah. This is my pad.”

  “Just you and big mama, huh? Nice.”

  I prickle. “She’s not my mother.”

  “HA!” With a ugh he sps his leg. “I already knew that, man.”

  “Oh.”

  “We saw ya walking around with her. Bro! How the hell’d you get in with big mama Heather!?” He sps my shoulder. “Damn, boyyyy! She’s a legend around here. I mean, RRR! She is soooo fine. MMM! Had I known she was into younger guys…oof!” His comment is interrupted by a sharp elbow into his side by his scowling girlfriend. “Not now, obviously! What do I need a big mama for when I got my little mam?e? I mean, so she’s smokin hot. I don’t even care about that baby, I got you! OW!” Slipping her foot from her sandal she digs her heel into the top of his bare foot. “Cee-Cee! Baby! You know you’re my one and only.” She crosses her arms, making it clear that he still had some grovelling to do, then turns and storms off across the park. “Cee-Cee!”

  “I better let ya go.” I say.

  “Yeah. Women! Am I right?” He talked big but his worried eyes follow Cecilia. “Hey! Before you take off. We’re coming out to practice again tomorrow and were wondering if you wanted to join us again.”

  “I’m, um, not sure what I’m up to yet.”

  “We’ll be out here around 1.” He says. “Come on out. We could really use a backup, bro, and you got some skills.”

  “Backup?”

  “Yeah, man. Like evening pick ups and weekend tourneys and shit. Nothin too big. Big mama’s free to tag along to hang out with the other girls or watch us again or whatever. Heh! Nobody would compin.” He starts jogging away. “Think about it. We’ll be here.” Breaking into a full sprint he dashes after his miffed girlfriend. “Baby! Wait up!”

  Bumping into Coop was a nice distraction but my mind never left Heather. Coop was worried about his girl, and so was I. Turning on my heel I head straight back to the house. As I pass through the gate I notice that the house had gone silent. Padding up to the door I peer through to see Heather sitting on the sofa with tears in her sad eyes. I am through the door and at her side in an instant.

  The moment I am beside her Heather turns and puts her arms around me. Closing her eyes she ys her head on my shoulder and squeezes into me. I take her into an embrace and kiss her head. “I’m here.”

  “Oh, Elliot.” She whispers. “Liam is so angry.”

  “I know.”

  “I’ve…never heard him like that before. The things he said…”

  “It must have come as a hell of a shock.”

  “Yeah.” Her voice quavers. “He’s coming back. He’s coming home.”

  A pang of fear shoots through me, though I hide it well. My primary concern right now was not for myself. “When?”

  “Friday.” She shudders. “He said…if you’re still here when he gets here…” A sob escapes her. “…I’ll never see him again! He said…it’s him or you.”

  “Okay.” I say softly, stroking her back. “It’ll be okay.”

  “I think he means it! I tried…I tried to expin… He just wouldn’t listen to me. He never…listens. Such a stubborn boy.” Maternal pain drips from her every word. I don’t know what the bastard had said to her but he’d cut her deep. “I can’t lose my son, baby. I can’t! What am I going to do?”

  “You won’t lose your son.” I say with all of the surety I could muster. “You won’t.” After a long, hard hug I lift her head to face me. “When he gets here…I’ll talk to him.”

  “No. No.” She pats my chest. “He’ll just hurt you. I can’t have that. I’ll…talk to him. I’ll…I’ll…” Her voice trails off as her hope fades.

  “He and I are going to have to come to an understanding. I’ll talk to him.” I say again more forcefully. “Man to man. I’ll figure this out, Heather.” In her glistening brown eyes I see worry, I see fear, and I see doubts. It was not lost on me that this was happening before our bond had become permanent. The threat of abandonment by one’s own flesh and blood would surely make any parent second guess their decisions. Despite the turbulent concerns I see swirling in her I could still see love beneath it all. Having tried and failed to reason with Liam she now poured all of her hope and faith into me. She was looking to her man to do what she couldn’t and make this right. I already knew I had to grow up fast, now I knew that I had less than a week to do it. “Everything’s going to be okay, Heather.” I pull her back into my arms. “I promise.”