“What’s going on, Austin,” Mom asks.

“Nothing.”

“Don’t nothing me. You never call me this much when you’re on the road.”

“Feeling a bit homesick and I wanted to hear your voice.”

“I know something’s wrong. You’re mopey and you haven’t mentioned Liz once.”

“No reason to mention her. She broke up with me.”

Part of me wanted Mom to ask. I didn’t want to call her crying about Liz breaking up with me. I honestly thought the whole thing was a weird fluke. I’ve been replaying the things she said in my head. And I just couldn’t comprehend some of it.

“What?”

“We got in a fight at the festival. It sucked, but I didn’t think it was that big of a deal. But I didn’t hear from her for a few days, and when I did, she comes over to tell me it’s over. All this bullshit about being from different worlds and not being able to give her the life she’s used to. Then she started saying crazy shit about me taking money from her father to break up with her. I have no clue where she even got that idea. I’ve never had a conversation with her father.”

“Wait. She said her father gave you money to break up with her?”

“Yup.” It still sounds so ridiculous, I can’t even believe I told Mom. I just don’t know how to process it.

Mom is uncharacteristically silent on her end.

“Mom?” I ask tentatively, knowing that what I’m about to suggest could piss her off royally. “Did Harris Commons offer you money to break us up?”

“Austin Charles Williams! What kind of person do you think I am?”

Shit.

It's not like I believed she did it, but I had to ask because I don’t know why Liz would say something so absolutely outlandish to me.

“Sorry, Mom. You know I don’t think you’re the kind of person who would accept something like that. I’m just searching for answers.”

She’s quiet again. It’s concerning, because I expect more anger after suggesting something so offensive to her character.

“Harris Commons offered me money a few weeks ago.”

I straighten up in bed. “What?” I ask loudly. “Why?”

It must be a little too loud, because Fozzie glances over from the bed beside me, giving me a dirty look before jerking a pillow over his head and burrowing into the covers.

“As compensation for the business idea that he stole from your father. And for a clothing line that I helped design,” Mom says as if I’m supposed to understand that at all.

“What in the world are you talking about?” I’m so confused. Mom could barely put together my homemade Halloween costumes. How could she design a clothing line?

“Your father and Harris met in college. They became friendly, not necessarily friends, but they had some business classes together. Your father always had ideas for businesses. He was brilliant, but didn’t have the financial means to pursue them. That’s where Harris came in. They brainstormed the concept of the Commons Department Store together. Your dad even came up with the slogan because he knew Harris’s family would be the ones funding the business. They asked me to help design a chic yet cheap clothing line to start it off. I was sewing a lot of my own clothes back then. I’ll admit, I was never the best designer, but I knew where to get fabrics and put together a cute line that wouldn’t cost too much for the business and the consumers.”

Mom pauses. Which gives my swirling brain a chance to catch up to this what the fuck moment. My dad helped come up with the Commons concept? How did I not know this?

“We were naive and trusting back then. Stupid, is what I call it now. We thought we were working with Harris. It never even crossed our minds to protect ourselves with a contract or something written to state that we were cocreators on the ideas. We put together the concepts and gave him the sketches for the line. He took all of it to his father to get a loan to start the store.” Mom sighs. “And that’s when everything changed. We never heard from him after that. He wouldn’t return our calls, wouldn’t meet with us. He started the store without us. Without ever giving us any credit or compensation. We certainly didn’t have the means to fight him. Who could fight the Commons family? They had all the money and influence behind them. We had nothing.”

The animosity Mom’s had for Commons stores for all these years becomes crystal clear. Why didn’t she ever say anything?

“So, after almost thirty years, Harris Commons offered you money to compensate you out of the blue. That didn’t seem odd?”

“It absolutely seemed odd! I almost fell off my chair when I got the call. But I thought—hoped—that he might have found his conscience because you were dating his daughter. How could someone look into the eyes of the son of the person, who created the concept where he made millions, and not feel any remorse? When he offered, I sure as hell wasn’t going to turn down the money, Austin. I never imagined he’d—”

“I’m not blaming you, Mom. I think you should take every fucking penny. He probably lowballed you anyway.”

“The amount we agreed on doesn’t matter. It was never about the money for your father and I. It was about the deception.”

“I get that. Totally. But the timing of his change of heart is suspicious.”

“I’ll bet that bastard told his vile wife he used the money to pay me to break you up. She never would have agreed to give me compensation for the business. Cookie Commons is a different breed. She didn’t come from money, but she sure hoards the fortune she has now.”

“Fuck,” I groan.

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you, Austin. I was surprised by the contact, but I didn’t realize he would ever do something so awful to his own daughter. Just to get her to stop dating you? What a sad state of affairs when humans put so much weight on wealth and not a person’s character.”

“Well, from what you just told me, they don’t have a whole lot of character in the first place. Money can’t buy class.”

“Austin, have you wondered why she would believe that about you?”

I sigh and scrub my face with one hand. “I have. I’ve been going over it a million times, Mom. First, I was offended and pissed. But then I was just perplexed. Liz has a heart of gold. She’s not like her parents. So I honestly can’t see her believing I’d actually take money to break up with her. It’s like she had some other thought behind it.”

“Do you think she thought she was helping you? Maybe she thought you’d be better off without her?”

“Why would she think that?”

“She’s embarrassed by her family, Austin. How would you react if someone did that to you?”

Shit. Did Liz really think she was doing me a favor by breaking up with me? Was she trying to shield me from her deceitful family’s bullshit?

It makes a hell of a lot more sense than her really believing that I would take money to break up with her.

“Do you want to get involved with a family like the Commons?” Mom asks softly. “Is she worth it?”

“Absolutely,” I answer with zero hesitation. “I’d let someone rip out my vocal chords if it meant being with her again. I don’t care about her shady-ass family. She’s nothing like them. She’s everything to me. Absolutely everything.”

“As long as you’re aware of what you’re getting into.”

“I know. I can’t say I like it, but I know.”

I may not have the net worth or the all-American look of the guys Liz’s parents expect her to be with, but I have integrity.

Liz and I were brought to each other for a reason. If we can filter out the bullshit brought on by others, we can get through anything.

I shove the covers off and run to the bathroom. It’s about time to show Liz that we’re meant to be together. All we need is each other. All of this bullshit is ridiculous. I’ll always be here for her. I already saved her once. And I’ll do it again.