Page 5 of Creed

MORGAN

With my handson my hips, my eyes track over the boxes stacked up in the tiny apartment, and I feel something curl in my stomach.

I’m not sure what. Disappointment, maybe?

I’d thought I’d be more excited coming to Bluport Cliffs. I loved the coastal city in California when I visited my father a few times over the summers.

But now, standing alone in the small space, my future seems a little more glum. In Arizona, I’d grown to love the city and the friends I made, even if the squad had their hands full with the outlaw bikers.

It was home, and this feels more like…visiting. It’s not the home I grew up in. As soon as the divorce papers were filed, they shipped me off to boarding school.

My phone rings and I smile, figuring it’s Quinn. She’s probably just as lost in the new town as I am. Most of the town’s streets are adjacent to the coast while Arizona’s streets were more gridlike.

My smile drops when it’s not her. I would rather it be a scam call than this one.

I brace myself and answer, “Hi, Mom.”

“Morgan! I just got off the phone with Debbie, and she said you’re moving to Bluport. That’s not true, is it?”

I wince. My aunt has always been the family gossip, but I guess I never thought she’d still be talking to her brother’s ex.

“Uhh. Yeah. I mean, she told you about Dad, right? His health scare?”

She scoffs. “Sure, but what does that have to do with you? I asked you to move closer to your brothers, and you said no.”

I squeeze my eyes shut, trying to calm the jittery emotion coursing through my chest. Tears threaten to leak and my nose tingles.

I should have expected that she might find out and be upset because in her eyes this is betrayal. I’ve chosen a side and it’s not hers. Even if there have never been sides. It’s really just two concrete walls, and I’m stuck between them, alone in a courtyard of abandonment.

My tongue pushes into my cheek, unsure how to respond to her. She asked me to move to Montana with her new husband at sixteen, wanting me to finish out high school in some bumfuck town with strangers instead of the friends I’d grown to love.

When I said no, she didn’t talk to me until I graduated, and that was to ask where I was going to college. I’d been surprised that her husband hadn’t pulled my tuition for the boarding school, but I guess as long as I wasn’t with my dad, that was all that mattered for her.

Looking back, I now realize she wanted to know about college to see if I was moving back to California—to my dad—after graduation. I remember how exhausted she sounded when I told her I was applying to the police academy when I was finally twenty-one.

“Uhm. Yeah, it wasn’t really the plan. I just thought…you know, if something happens again…he was lucky that a colleague was visiting,” I explain weakly. It’s not enough in her eyes.

“Well, I mean, he chose that, Morgan.” Her snide tone pricks at my heart.

I sigh. “I get that, but he’s still my dad.”

Just like you’re still my mom, even if you haven’t attempted to see me over the years. I usually have to visit for Christmas, and I only do that for the twins. Though, each year it feels more and more useless because they couldn’t care less about spending time with me.

“I just can’t believe you’re moving there.”

I track over my empty apartment. “I mean, it’s not set in stone yet. I was just thinking about it. Dad didn’t seem real happy about it.” The lie tastes like ash on my tongue, but the energy shifts on the phone just like I expected.

“That’s great. I think the longer you think about it, the more you’ll realize it’s a mistake,” my mom chirps happily.

“Right, thanks. How are Trent and Brandon?” I ask, wanting to change the subject.

“Oh, fine. Look, I haven’t got time to chat. I’ll call you later to catch up,” she says.

I blink, unable to hold back the hurt from her quick dismissal. “Uh?—”

“Bye, Morgan.”

I know she’s gone before I respond, and I stand there a little stuck. She’s not going to call back, she never does. Nor does she pick up much when I call her instead.