Page 60 of Mischief Mayhem
This ache I had for V was unique to her.
Leo didn’t answer, just shook his head and smirked. “It’s been two weeks. Have you heard from my sister?”
I shrugged because I didn’t know. Leo didn’t have a phone or a way to contact the outside world. If Julia were going to accept our terms, she would have to go through Saint to do it.
“We’re regrouping tomorrow,” I said. “I’ll find out more then.”
Leo nodded, but my phone vibrated, distracting me. At the sight of the unavailable number, I got up and walked outside, reaching into my coat for my cigarettes so I could light one and inhale.
“Will you accept the call from Allegheny Correctional Facility?” said the robotic voice.
“I will.” I waited while the line connected me to my mother.
“Matty?” came her exhausted voice.
“Hiya, Momma.” It was good to hear from her, even if it had only been a few days. I’d transferred the money to her, like she’d asked, and if I knew my mother, this call would be about needing more. Jails were notoriously expensive, and she didn’t make shit at that slave-trade sewing job she had during the day. “How are you?”
“Oh, I’m good, my baby. How are you?” She coughed a wet sound like she needed a doctor.
“I’m okay,” I answered. “Are you sick? Do you have to go to the nurse?”
“No, it’s the flu going around. I’ll be fine.” She sniffed and coughed again. “Tell me about you. What are you doing these days?”
I told her about work and the Beacon reopening soon. “I’m seeing someone new.”
“Oh?” Momma laughed. “Who are they?”
She knew I was pansexual, and she didn’t care. While she was in prison, she’d had a few girlfriends of her own, even so much as married a woman named Daisy a year ago. Who had time for bigotry when there were so many people in the world worthy of love?
“Would you believe me if I said it was Verona?” I chuckled out a disbelieving sound. “I think . . . I think I’m in love with her, Momma.”
“Matty,” she said, her voice surprisingly light and joyous. “That’s so wonderful to hear. Isn’t Bear’s little sister called Verona?”
“Yeah, it’s her,” I said. “How do I know if I’m in love?”
She sighed and hacked again, clearing her throat and sniffling before continuing. “I didn’t think I could love anyone except you and Troy, God rest his soul.” Troy had been Trojan’s name before he joined the SRMC. The only person who ever called him that was our mother. “Not until I met Daisy here at Allegheny.”
“You weren’t in love with our father?”
“No, baby,” she said. “And your stepfather?—”
“Don’t mention him,” I cut in. “Don’t talk about him . . . not on this line.” All the phone calls at the prison were recorded, and if she even so much as breathed his name, the DA would be on her ass for more information to use against her. “How do you know you love Daisy?”
“You just know, Matty.” There was a wistfulness to her voice I hadn’t heard before, maybe not since I was a kid. “It’s in your heart when you think about them. It’s in your eyes when you see them. There’s no greater feeling in the world than being in love.”
My eyes burned and I shut them to blink back the tears forming at the corners. I knew it, just like Momma was saying. It was new and fresh and delicate, but my affection and abiding love for Verona Montgomery went deeper than the sex we claimed it to be. She was my first thought when I woke up and the last face I wanted to see before I went to sleep. Maybe it wouldn’t last forever like those sappy rom-coms (which I secretly loved), but it was something and that was a start. Even if she didn’t feel the same way about me, I was proud of myself for experiencing it at all. If I had kept walking down the path I’d been treading two years ago, I would have never gotten the opportunity to be a part of something so amazing. She never would have given me the time of day, and honestly, I never would have wanted her to.
“Thank you,” I said. “That makes sense.”
“Of course,” she said. “I know being in the pen means I can’t be there for you the way you need, but I’m still your momma. I always will be. I’m always here for you.”
I coughed back a sob and nodded, even though she couldn’t see me.
“Do you need money?” I asked. “I transferred some a few days ago, but I can always send more.”
“No, baby,” she answered, kindness in her tone. “I just wanted to hear your voice. I miss you so much.”
“I miss you, too,” I said.