Natalia

A few weeks passed. Mom refused to do anything about Greg. Luca had told me he’d found his dad, but because Mom didn’t want to, I left it alone. I could only steam about it.

I woke up one morning to my phone ringing. I heard a groan from beside me, before Luca shifted around and grabbed the phone.

“It’s your mom, Natalia,” he mumbled, still half asleep.

I blinked my eyes open and took the phone, then slid out of bed so I wouldn’t bother him. Mom already knew about us since I’d told her we were seeing each other a couple weeks back, but she didn’t know we were this close already. It had both surprised and delighted me when she was happy for me, unconditionally.

“Hey, Mom?” I said, covering a yawn. “What is it?”

“Honey, why do you sound so tired? Did I catch you at a bad time?”

It wasn’t all that early in the morning, but Luca and I had been up late last night, and I felt exhausted. Only, it was the good kind of exhausted that came after long, fun rounds of fulfilling sex. Of course, t