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Leo moved closer while Nate made the call.

Chapter

Forty-Six

Part of Nate was hoping the call would go to voicemail.

Naturally, he wasn’t that lucky.

“Hello, sweetheart,” his mother said on the other end of the line, and Nate braced himself for the conversation he needed to have.

“Hi, Mom. Have you got a minute?”

“For you? Yes.”

Leo moved around him to see the phone. Nate put it on speaker and carried it into the dining room. “Leo’s here too.”

“Hello, Leo.”

“Hello, Miriam.”

Nate relayed the greeting and set the phone on the windowsill beside the paint samples. While the phone had been ringing, he’d been preparing his words. Now he couldn’t remember any of them.

It was probably best to come right out and say what he needed. “Do you remember the tea you made to help with recovery from the other tea?”

Miriam didn’t miss a beat. “How much have you been taking?”

“I only take it every other day.”

“That wasn’t what I asked.”

Nate leaned against the wall and folded his arms in front of his chest. “I take a pinch now and then. Once or twice I’ve taken enough to leave my body.” There, that was the truth. He felt the urge to justify why he’d taken the tea, but stopped himself from saying anything more. Whatever he said, his mother would figure out the real reason anyway.

Miriam took a moment to process. Then she asked, “And how have you felt afterward?”

“I’ve had headaches.”

“How bad?”

“Bad enough to take something for them.”

Leo gave him an unimpressed look. “You could barely move yesterday.”

“I could move.”

“What did he say?” his mother asked.

Nate shut his eyes briefly. “That I could barely move yesterday. It hurt when I did.”

“And today?”

“I’m better today.”

There were more questions. Nate answered them, with occasional contributions from Leo, who apparently remembered every complaint he’d made.

So much for keeping some things between them.

“You remember the recovery tea,” his mother said eventually. “Why didn’t you ask for it earlier?”