Secret Plunge - Jasmin Miller Page 0,18
students.
My computer is up and running and I type in Harper’s flight number to check her flight status. She sent it over last night like she’d promised. The need to know she’s okay is strong, despite our situation. “I couldn’t do what either one of you is doing, but you know that.”
Neither one of my parents have to work, but they do it anyway because they love it. According to my mom, they’ve both always wanted to be teachers and bonded over their mutual devotion when they met in college.
“Neither one of us could do what you’re doing.” She shushes my grandmother. “We all have our strengths and that’s a good thing, or everyone would be doing the same stuff. Now how boring would that be?”
“Goodness. Ask him already.” This time, my grandmother is loud enough for me to hear.
“Ask me what?”
Harper’s flight pulls up. Still almost an hour to go. At least she got a direct flight and doesn’t have to deal with the stress of catching a connecting flight.
“. . . hot blonde.”
I catch the end of my mom’s sentence and freeze.
“Sorry, what?”
She clears her voice. “I talked to your brother earlier and he mentioned someone coming to the house looking for you, a hot blonde. His words, not mine.”
I’m going to punch him. Why on earth would he tell something like that to our mom?
“I’m not getting any younger, Ryan. I want some great-grandbabies.” My grandma sounds closer than before. Are they huddled around the phone?
“Am I on speaker?” I lean back on the couch, exhausted after my two training sessions today. Having to deal with the outcome of my brother’s gossipy mouth definitely wasn’t on my to-do list for tonight.
My mom sighs. “No. But I swear your grandma has better hearing than a bat, no matter how much she pretends to be hard of hearing.”
I bite my lip to keep from laughing, because she isn’t wrong there. That does sound like my grandma. We also call it selective hearing.
A noise sounds on my mom’s end.
“I went into a different room, so shoot.” She pauses, and I’m not sure if she’s trying to find the right words or waiting for me to say something.
“There isn’t much to tell, Mom. A woman was here, yes. We talked and then she left.” I close my eyes. I hate keeping secrets, but I can’t tell her. This isn’t just my secret to tell.
Yes, this is my family, and Harper and I didn’t say anything about keeping her pregnancy on the downlow, but it doesn’t feel right. Not yet, at least.
“Okay.” Her voice doesn’t give anything away, so I have no clue if she believes me or not.
“I don’t know why Zane told you about her anyway.”
“Because your brother loves to snoop and tell everyone’s secret. That boy has always liked to cause trouble.” There’s a softness in her tone that always comes out when she talks about Zane.
“True.” A smile forms on my face despite the frustration I feel toward my brother.
I was in high school when my mom was pregnant with him, but my parents were always happy about it, calling him their miracle baby.
And now I was going to have one of my own. Wow.
“So everything’s okay, then? How’s training going?”
The last thing I want to talk about right now is training. Or anything really. I’m exhausted and don’t feel social enough for hours of small talk. I want to stare at the computer to make sure Harper makes it back okay, and then I want to fall into my bed and sleep until the morning.
“Same as always. It’s a lot of work, and I certainly feel it more now at my age, but it’s going well, I think. My coach seems happy most of the time, so I’m happy.”
“That’s great. I’m glad to hear that.” The smile is unmistakable in her voice.
I know it’s hard for them to live so far away from us, but my grandma put her foot down, and they tried to do right by her. Which is something I respect the shit out of. Everyone deserves to have people like that in their lives.
My thoughts flicker to Harper. Does she have people like that? Her comment about doing things “alone as always” definitely made it sound like she doesn’t.
“Oh, what did she do now? Sorry, Ryan, but I’ve got to go. Your grandmother is cussing like a sailor in the kitchen. We’ll talk soon, okay? Love you.”
“Love you too, Mom. Say hi to