too loud and the lights, too bright. People don’t understand that he’s still recovering, because outwardly he looks fine, just like the accident never happened. Inwardly, it’s a different story. His brain is still trying to reboot itself and recover the files it lost in the accident.”
“But he will recover them, won’t he?”
“That remains to be seen. He’s managed to recover many of the ten years’ worth of memories he lost, so we’re hopeful.”
“Well, if anyone can do it, it’s Luke.” Just then, the door opened, and Peter and Luke re-emerged. “Just don’t tell him I said that. I’d like to maintain our current level of barb-trading without getting all emotional and shit.”
“Noted. Absolutely no one will ever know that Mena Straszewski, in fact, actually does have a fuck to give.”
“Shh. Don’t say it out loud.”
A sudden ping alerted Elle to pick up her phone as Luke and Peter returned to the table. His talk with Peter must have helped. Luke’s face was no longer flushed, and the stress that lined his features had dissipated.
“That’s weird,” Elle said, still staring at her phone.
“What?” Luke asked, leaning over her shoulder.
“Some guy from Indiana just sent me a friend request with a message asking me if I was Betsy Sloan’s daughter.”
“Be careful consorting with strange men on the internet,” I added. “It’s all fun and games until a dick pic ends up in your DMs.”
Peter stirred in his seat next to me, turning to face me. “You sound like you’re speaking from experience.”
“I’m a woman with an online social media presence. There are very few of us who haven’t received an unsolicited picture of some random guy’s penis at one point.”
“What should I tell him?” Elle asked, still clutching the phone in her hands. “My mom’s been gone for over ten years now, and considering her sketchy past, who knows how this man may know her.”
“True,” Luke agreed. “Or maybe it was someone who knew her before she ran off the rails. Someone who could tell you something positive about your mom for a change.”
“Or someone she owed money to.”
Elle’s gaze wandered between Luke and me. “I’m going to have to agree with Mena on this one. You met my mom; you know what the more likely scenario is.”
Luke shuddered, almost certainly remembering his one and only encounter with Betsy Sloan. “One thing’s for certain. Unless you answer him, you’ll never know.”
“Fine.” Elle’s fingers tapped her phone’s touchscreen, typing her reply message. “Here goes nothing.”
“You’ve done it now. Be prepared to receive all the penises.” I gestured across the width of the table with both arms.
“Nah, that’s most likely the end of it.” Elle set her phone down. “He probably just went to school with her or something and wants to reconnect. I told him I’m her daughter and that she passed away. That should take care of tha—” Elle’s notifications on her phone went off, interrupting her mid-sentence.
“Someone’s a little eager.” Peter draped his arm around my shoulders, drawing me into him as Luke hovered protectively over Elle, just as anxious to see what this guy wanted as much as she was.
Exhausted from a day of work and travel, I let out a yawn and was on the verge of suggesting to Peter that we grab the bill and get out of here, when Elle’s sudden gasp served as an auditory bucket of water, extinguishing my fatigue. All color had drained from her face and her hand trembled just enough to rock the phone back and forth.
“Crap, I was just joking about the penises, too.”
“It’s … it’s not that.”
“Sloan, what is it? You’re scaring me.” Luke strained to catch a better glance of the phone.
“What’s going on, Elle?” Peter joined in, uncharacteristically concerned.
Elle tried to talk, but no words would come out at first. “Th-This man. H-He thinks he m-may be my father.”
*****
It would have been classic Betsy Sloan to know who Elle’s father was but not tell her out of spite. Elle never knew her father, and her mother’s story often varied with respect to who he was, how they met, and how she came into this world. The popular theory was that he had been just another stranger her mother had met in a bar and had taken home after one of her innumerable alcohol-filled binges. In hindsight, it was a miracle that Elle was an only child—and also that she was a normal, functioning adult.
We stayed up with Elle back at the apartment she and Luke shared well