“It’s worse than I feared.”

I open my apartment door to an older woman literally clutching her pearls, accompanied by a man clinging to a Bible like it will somehow protect him from me. A thousand scenarios spin in my brain. Travelling Bible salespeople? Jackson Daugherty getting his final revenge? Their Bible has developed a mind of its own and is trying to implant itself, like a cyborg but with books, and only a heathen such as myself can save them?

“Aunt Bonnie?” Parker peeks his head out of the bedroom. “What are you doing here? How did you even find me?”

Aunt Bonnie? I look back to the woman that is Zach’s mother. I’ve heard many stories, but never did I imagine she’d be pulling one of her stunts on my doorstep.

Parker has been staying with me since we came back from Glenwood Springs, and my tiny five-hundred square foot apartment has never felt cozier. In a good way. I love waking to the weight of his body near mine every morning, and falling asleep every evening with his steady heartbeat under mine. He’s been getting things in order with work – they were thrilled to take him back and willing to let him work virtually part-time so that he can go to Oklahoma more often and visit his mother. And he and I have been house shopping together, just rentals for now because of the divorce. The coziness is nice, but it’s probably not practical for the long term.

“Parker, this is Dr. Henrick, our pastor. I’ve brought him to talk with you. It isn’t too late to undo the damage you’ve inflicted upon yourself.”

“Oh, hell no,” I say and start to slam the door on the evil witch, but a hand reaches from behind and stops me.

“Just a second,” Parker says to them and pulls me into the kitchen.

“Let me talk to her, or else she might never leave us alone. Why don’t you go warn Zach that his mom is in town?”

Parker leans down to place a soft kiss on my face, and I do my best to ignore the outraged gasp coming from the living room. Oh goody. They’ve let themselves in.

I grab my jacket and phone from the bedroom and head outside to call Zach.

“Hey, Mal,” Zach answers on the first ring. I’m still a little surprised how far we’ve come in such a short time. Any jealousy he had over me is long gone, and in its place is that mothering instinct Zach seems to harbor for all of his friends.

“Hi, Zach. I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but your mom is here.”

“What?”

“Yeah, Parker just got ambushed. And she brought some preacher,” I say while pacing the sidewalk. My hoodie isn’t that warm, and I only threw on the nearest sweatpants and tank top. We might have been a little indisposed when they first knocked.

“Fucking hell. I’ll be right there,” Zach says, then adds, “Wait, I’ve never been to your place. How the hell did she find it?”

“No idea, but I’ll text you the address,” I say, bouncing on my toes while I type out the information and send it to Zach. It’s fucking freezing out here, which is why I notice the man sitting in the parked car. He’s got to be freezing balls. His curls are shorter and tighter to his scalp, but they tell me right away who this man is.

He jumps when I knock on his window.

“You Zach’s dad?” I ask after he rolls down the window. He looks taken aback, but nods anyway, probably a reflex. “You didn’t want to join the witch hunt inside?” I lean my elbows onto the door, trying to act casual when what I really want to do is throttle the man. “If you get too cold out here, there’s always the chance they’ll burn Parker at the stake. I bet that would warm you up.”

Zach’s dad sighs and leans his head back against the seat. “I’m not here for Parker. I just came hoping I’d get to see Zach.”

“You’re going to get your wish, honey.” I pat his shoulder with mock sincerity. “But I don’t think it’s going to be the happy family reunion you’re imagining in that curly head of yours.”

His frown deepens, and he starts to roll the window back up. I tell him, in all seriousness, he’s welcome to come back with me, but I can’t convince him to come inside.

When I open the door to my apartment, I expect World War III to have commenced, so the fact that all three are sitting together calmly sipping on tea is a shock. I don’t even move past the doorway or close the door behind me, even though later I know I’ll regret letting all that cold air in. Right now, I’m too struck to move.

“You’re an engineer. You know better than anyone that there is such a thing as absolute truth,” Dr. Henrick says, leaning forward with excitement, probably at actually being engaged and not just shut down.

“Umm, no,” Parker says, his eyes narrowing as he tries to predict where the good pastor is directing this conversation.

“But you’re sitting in that chair. You wouldn’t sit in that chair if you didn’t know with absolute truth that chairs hold people.” Dr. Henrick’s arms are flying now, and I have to be honest, I don’t believe with absolute truth that my flimsy dining chair is going to hold him. “So your brain might deny it, but in here,” he points to his chest, “you know that absolute truth exists.”

Parker leans back and folds his arms. “That’s a terrible example. I see chairs collapse and people fall on their ass all the time. I might put faith in the sturdiness or engineering of a chair to hold my weight, but I don’t believe that chairs holding people is an absolute truth.”

“Ah, but you’re still grasping the original point, which is that what you feel and what is real are two different things. Jeremiah 17:9 tells us that the heart is deceitful above all things.”

Parker holds his hand up. His nostrils flare and his upper lip twitches like he’s trying to keep his mouth flat. “Wait a minute. Are you trying to tell me that I shouldn’t base a relationship on what I feel in my heart?”

I know Parker well enough to know what that look means, but Dr. Henrick doesn’t have a clue what he’s walking into. He thinks Parker has finally got it. “Yes! Your heart can trick you into feeling things that aren’t true.”

“So if I can’t base a relationship on what I’m feeling, on what my heart tells me, what am I supposed to base it on?”

“Why, God’s life manual for us, of course, the Bible. When you accept Jesus, the old self is cast away, and everything is become new.”

“Technically, I became a Christian at the age of six. So why didn’t it work then?”

“Oh it did, son, it did. But Satan is always finding ways to wheedle into our lives. And he has used this boy as a way to test you and your faith.”

“Hi, ‘that boy’ here,” I wave from the front door as I finally let it slam behind me. “Although, as I’m sure you’ve heard, I prefer the term ‘person.’ Or ‘human’ has a nice ring to it. Anything other than ‘evil fucking bitch.’ I think we all know who that title’s reserved for,” I say with a wink at Zach’s mom.

“Parker, we need to talk alone,” Zach’s mom hisses through clenched teeth.

“This is Mal’s home, Aunt Bonnie. You are the one who showed up uninvited.”

“Actually, Parker, if I can talk to you privately? I’ll just be a second, and then you lovely folks can continue your witch hunt,” I say and nod to the bedroom door. Just before I’m about to close the door behind me, I peek back out into the living room.

“Make yourselves at home. Enjoy the Gay Spice tea Parker made for you. I promise, it’s only flavored with gay, it won’t turn you that way.”

To my immense delight, Zach’s mom wrinkles her nose and sets down her cup.

“Whatcha doin’, Parker?” I ask, swinging my body back and forth, eyebrows raised.

He looks like he just caught his parents fucking. “What the ever-loving hell was that? I thought it would be entertaining to see what they had to say, and I hate being rude to Aunt Bonnie or saying anything that might make Zach’s situation with his family worse. So I invite them in. Make them tea. But holy crap. Do you think they can even hear how nonsensical they sound?”

“Well, you were surrounded by that sort of thing when you were married to Shelby, right?”

Parker screws up his face and flops his ass onto the bed, which is still rumpled from our interrupted fun. “Yeah, but I think I just didn’t pay attention. I didn’t give a crap about church stuff, I just went to make her happy. Most times, I’d try to discreetly read a book on my phone or take a nap. What they were talking about didn’t seem to apply to me, so I just ignored it. God, what a fool I was.”

I sit next to him and pat his knee. “I’m not going to make excuses for you, because yeah, if you sat around while people acted like this, there is no excuse. But I also know that you just want to make people happy. You have such a fucking big heart that you wanted Shelby to have everything she wanted. It’s why moving back here instead of staying in Oklahoma was such a hard call for you to make. Because you love your mom and want her to be happy. Hell, it’s why those two assholes are sitting in our house, drinking tea, instead of wiping the boot prints off their ass on their way back home. But honey, some people don’t need to be placated, they need to be fucking told off.”

He flops onto his back and throws an arm over his eyes. “I’m such a coward.”

“But you’re my coward.” I stand and pull at his arms, trying to get him up, but only making it to him sitting. “Now I think we probably have about ten more minutes before Zach gets here.”

That gets his attention. “Zach’s coming? I didn’t want him to have to deal with this. I wanted to warn him so he could avoid his mom, not so he’d come rushing into the fire.”

I sigh and pat his head. “I know, hon. But do you see the difference? His mom needs to be told off, so he’s coming. Ready to kick some ass on behalf of the ones he loves.”

Parker ducks his head into my stomach.

“You’re a people pleaser,” I tell him while running a hand along his neck and through his hair. “It’s okay. I know this about you and I still love you. But you have to realize that sometimes in life, not everyone is going to like you. And that’s okay. With some people, like that horrible woman out there, you should wear that shit like a badge of honor.”

“You love me?” Parker’s voice is muffled against my stomach, and as I replay my words I realize that yes, I said it. I mean it, too.

“Yes, you idiot.” I kneel down until I’m at face-level with him. “I love you.”

I lean forward to kiss him, but a loud bang jolts our attention back to the living room.

“Mom, what are you doing here?”

Parker and I rush back into the living room to see Zach in the doorway, his father trailing behind.

“Zachariah.” Zach’s mom stands to face him. “I am here trying to keep Parker from making the same mistake you did. I already lost one of my boys, I don’t want to lose another.”

I’ve seen Zach’s face turn red on many an occasion, but never like this.

“You didn’t lose me. You gave up on me,” Zach yells, but his mom’s face remains stoic.

“You need to leave, Aunt Bonnie. I won’t allow the people I love to be treated like this. Zach, or Mal, or myself. Go back and tell Shelby that recruiting you didn’t work. I won’t back down again.”

Parker’s voice is strong and steady, but his hand trembles inside mine. I know how hard this is for him and I’m so proud.

“Shelby didn’t send me,” Bonnie says, looking down her pinched nose at Parker. “Your father did.”

My eyes fly to Parker. With that one sentence, she turned him into a kicked puppy, but he’s trying so hard not to let it show. Zach can sense it too, because after shaking off his own surprise, he steps toe-to-toe with his mother.

“Leave. And don’t ever come back, whether it’s for me or for Parker.”

“Now, Zeke.” Dr. Henrick has been silent throughout the drama, but apparently Zach standing up to his mother crosses a line.

“It’s Zach. My fucking name is Zach. She even calls me Zachariah, not Zach, so I have no idea how stupid you have to be to get my name wrong. I mean, isn’t that like Pastor 101? Thou shalt get thy flock’s name right?”

Bonnie looks like she’s about to protest, but Zach’s dad steps in. “We’ve been asked to leave; we should leave.” He ushers his wife and pastor out the door, but before he can also exit, Parker calls out to stop him.

“Ned.” Zach’s dad turns, but there’s no surprise on his face, only shame. “Shelby was – is – a horrible person. She said terrible things to your son, among others, and I never had the guts to stop her. I told myself that I wasn’t in control of her actions, and that it wasn’t my problem. I never said or thought those things, so I was in the clear. I was wrong. I was just as guilty for not speaking up when I could have, for not defending Zach when I should have. Your lack of action, Ned, is just as bad as everything Bonnie has done. It took me a while to realize it, and I’ve been working ever since to put it right. It’s not too late for you.”

Parker casts a meaningful glance Zach’s direction, who gives him a half-smile in return. Ned can no longer look at any of us. His eyes are downcast, but he nods before closing the door behind him.