Blank Slate

Chapter 21 - Ezra James

I had just finished cooking my mother's lasagna recipe and Paxton was yelling at everyone that dinner was ready, like he was the one that had cooked it. I just smiled and shook my head in response. Paxton was an out in front kind of guy, the one on their team that always needed to be taking action and touch everything that we did. I didn't mind. I liked taking a more backseat role and making sure that my Whistler family was well taken care of. Paxton may be our team's poster boy, but it was me that made sure everyone ate and got home safely at the end of the day.

Ethan and Liam emerged from Ethan's office and moved to take seats at the table. Those two were the closest on the team. Liam was the first person Ethan picked to join him on the team and they stayed as a two member small team for an entire year before Ethan added Paxton and me to the group. I was of the opinion that the two men bonded in their year alone and now they worked amazingly well together. Ethan lead and Liam followed. Ethan handled the big picture while Liam noticed the small details. And both men preferred to maintain a comfortable silence.

Oliver bounded into the room and took a seat next to his brother. Those two looked so much alike but I was finding out that Oliver was drastically different from his brother. He was less flash and more easy-going kindness. One had to prove they were worth Christopher Paxton's time and attention while Oliver accepted and paid attention to everyone he met. It was hard for me to believe they grew up in the same household.

The last person to join the table was Payton. I was having a hard time getting a read on her. She would smile and throw my flirtations back at me, but I could see that she wasn't really affected by my charm the way most women were. She took my banter in the way that it was given, as a way to break the ice with her. Tonight, she was focused on the meal and did not look up as she served herself some of my mom's lasagna and started eating. After the first bite she closed her eyes and looked like she was softly moaning. She then began shoveling the pasta dish into her mouth at an impressive rate. I softly chuckled and when she looked up at me, I winked at her. At least someone appreciated the effort I had put into dinner that night.

My enjoyment of watching Payton eat my food was interrupted when my phone rang. I pulled out my phone as saw that my Dad was calling. Shit, Dad only called when something went wrong. I quickly got up and answered the phone in Ethan's office.

"Hey Dad, what's up?"

"It's your mother, she has had an episode." I was going to need more information than that. My mother was schizophrenic and constantly had to deal with hallucinations and accompanying delusions. But if my father was calling, then something more than Mom talking to an empty room must have happened.

"What happened? Is she okay?" I asked with real concern and worry.

"She attacked Mr. Forsberg in the supermarket. Claimed that he was possessed by a demon and threw an entire container of salt at him. Old Ms. Delany had to pull your mother out of the store kicking and screaming. It caused quite the disturbance here." My father cared more about the gossip that this would have caused than he did about his own wife. Mom always suffered after a big episode like that, and I was more concerned about her right now then the town drama.

"Is she okay now? Why was she shopping alone?" I demanded, the concern that I felt turned my voice harsh.

"Don't give me that, boy!" My father yelled into the phone, "I cannot be with your mother all-the-fucking time. That was your job. You were the one that abandoned us to be some secret James Bond type. Your mother depended on you and you just left her. And now I have to clean up her messes. Do you have any idea what her episodes do to my reputation?" I knew that any hope of having a constructive conversation with my father had gone out the window the moment he called me boy. If I had been in our home town of Dixie Valley Nevada, my father would have removed his belt at the same time he called me boy.