Page 78 of Finding Hayes
He moved so quickly that I squealed as he tugged me onto his lap. “One more call, Shortcake, and then I’m carrying you to the shower.”
“Don’t forget about the letter.”
“Sure. A little reading material after an orgasm sounds great,” he grumped, and I looked down at my phone to see a message from my mom that she was ready to chat, and Harry was there, too.
“Okay, let’s do this.”
“Hello, Savannah. You look well,” my mother said, as her face came into view.
“Hi, Savvy. I miss you!” Harry shouted.
“Harry, you don’t need to shout, sweetheart. You can use a regular voice. An inside voice.” My mom had never been patient with me, but she was so different with Harry. She wanted to talk everything out. I was grateful she wasn’t that way with me, even if she appeared to be trying harder this time around. I just found it to be very annoying.
“Hey, buddy. I miss you, too. I wanted to introduce you to someone.” I smiled and leaned my head against Hayes’s shoulder.
“Is that Hayes Woodson?” My mother gasped, her tone extra snarky. “The boy you got your first tattoo with?”
“Wow. Nice to see you, too, Mrs. Jones.”
I was ready to pull off the bandage because her judgy eyes were infuriating me. For a woman who’d made her fair share of mistakes, she never cut anyone any slack. No one got a pass from Delila Jones. And I had zero tolerance for it.
“Oh, baby. Drop the formalities. You can call her Mom.” I chuckled. “Mom. Har. Say hello to my husband.” I held up my hand and shook my hand in front of the screen, flashing my wedding ring.
“Husband?” my mom said. “You got married?”
“I sure did.”
“Yes, we’re married.” Hayes squeezed my hand so tight I nearly squealed. “We just couldn’t wait another minute.”
“Cool. I always wanted a brother.” Harry fist pumped the ceiling.
“Glad to hear it, Harry. I’ve heard lots about you.”
“How did this happen? You lost contact years ago,” she said, and she started scratching at her neck. It was her tell when she was nervous.
“Yes. Well, I think the fact that he’d written me all those letters, which had been returned to him so many years ago, caught us both by surprise. Ya know,Mom?” I arched a brow.
“Oh, yes, the letters. I just knew you two weren’t speaking at the time, so I didn’t want to cause you any more pain, Savannah.”
“Don’t give it a thought, Mom,” Hayes said, in a sugary sweet voice, one I’d never heard from him. “I think it’s what really sealed the deal for me all these years later. She loved that I saved them. So, thank you for torturing us both for the last decade.”
My mother just stared at the screen. “Sure. I’m glad it all worked out. I’m—er, happy for you both. You always had such an interesting friendship. We’ll have to have dinner the next time you’re in the city. We’re heading out to meet Ben to play some pickleball, so we’ve got to get going.”
This is why I hated calling her. There just wasn’t anything there between us, and it made me feel bad when the reality that we were more like acquaintances was so apparent every time we spoke.
“I can’t wait to see you, Savvy. And I can’t wait to hang out with my new brother, Hayes.” Harry waved at the camera.
“Bye, Har. I love you.”
“Love you, too,” he said, as my mother ended the call.
“She’s just as charming as I remember.” Hayes turned to face me, oozing sarcasm, per usual. “You all right?”
“Yes. I’m good.”
“Good? That doesn’t sound good.” He moved so fast I barely had a minute to process what was happening before I was tossed over his shoulder as he ran down the hall. “I think your first shower with a well-hung man ought to cheer you up.”
I slapped his ass and laughed.
