Page 52 of A Minute More
But I don’t push him into anything more than what he’s comfortable with, which makes the day endless. Just order after order, customer after customer. The only time I heard him talk is on the phone and the one time he cracked a nervous smile was at a girl who flirted a little too much with him.
I didn’t like that. Not at all.
“Did you know her?” I ask and Simon shakes his head.
“You’re still gay?” I ask stupidly and Simon just stares at me in confusion.
“You don’t just change one day, Wesley.”
Well, I sure feel like I did…one day I was into women and the next it was only Simon.
I can’t get him out of my head. He’s all I see.
When my shift at the sandwich shop is done, I linger in the backroom, playing games on my phone and calling my mom to bide my time.
I should probably tell her about Simon, should let her know that I might be into a guy, but it makes me nervous. Fuck, I don’t think she’d care, but it’s nerve-wracking.
Perhaps I’ll wait,I think as I call her, knowing I need to check in because it’s been far too long. And if I don’t do this, she will come calling.
“Hey, Mom,” I say, pacing the small back room.
“New phone. Who’s this?” she asks, and I roll my eyes.
“It’s your only son.”
“Don’t have one of those, it seems. He’s gone off and disappeared.”
A laugh escapes me, and I can hear her smile through the phone.
“I was about to send out a search party.”
“Yeah, I know. I’m sorry…been busy with stuff.”
“Still working at the Greatest Wich?”
“Yep, same old, same old,” I say. “How’s Poppy?”
“Oh, she’s here, bouncing on her toes, wanting to chat.”
“Alright then, give her to me.”
I hear my mom tell her to remember to put the phone up to her ear and then Poppy’s sweet voice comes over the speaker.
“Hi, Wesley!”
I smile widely at the way she says my name, with so much excitement and hope. God, I miss her. She’s so much younger than me—fifteen years younger to be exact. She wasn’t planned. My mom got pregnant with her after a one night stand. I didn’t understand at the time how she could have been so reckless, but ever since my dad left, my mom’s been lonely and searching for something she just can’t quite seem to find again. And we have always been her life, her singular focus. The one night she was utterly selfish and took something for herself, Poppy was conceived.
She never could find the guy she was with, despite trying.
And now Poppy’s seven, and I can’t imagine my life without her. Fuck, I need to head out to see her soon. It’s been too long and they’re not even that far away.
“You haven’t been home to see me,” she says.
“I know, baby. It’s been too long. How about I come up and see you next weekend.”
“Can we go to the fair?”
“Yeah, we can.”