[Georgia 03] Fallen

think about it at the time …”
    “Mom doesn’t shop talk with me. That’s your job.”
    There was the same tinge of accusation in his voice, as if Faith had the power to find their mother and was simply choosing not to exercise it. She looked at the clock on the wall. It was almost nine, too late to be doing this. “I’m going to bed. I’ll send down Jeremy with some sheets. The couch is pretty comfortable.”
    He nodded, and Faith saluted his dismissal. She was halfway up the stairs when he spoke. “He’s a good kid.” Faith turned around. “Jeremy. He’s a good kid.”
    She smiled. “Yeah, he is.” She was almost to the top of the stairs when the other shoe dropped.
    “Mom did a good job.”
    Faith continued up the stairs, refusing to take the bait. She checked on the baby. Emma smacked her lips when Faith leaned down to kiss her forehead. She was in that deep, blissful sleep that only babies know. Faith checked the monitor to make sure it was on. She stroked her hand down Emma’s arm, letting the baby’s tiny fingers wrap around her one, before leaving.
    In the next room, Jeremy’s bed was empty. Faith lingered at the door. She hadn’t changed his room, though it would’ve been nice to have an office. His posters were still on the wall—a Mustang GT with a bikini-clad blonde leaning over the hood, another with a half-naked brunette draped across a Camaro, a third and fourth showing concept cars with the ubiquitous big-bosomed model. Faith could still remember coming home from work one day to find his “Bridges of the Southeastern United States” posters replaced with these gems. Jeremy still thought that he’d cleverly tricked her into believing that puberty had brought on a sudden interest in automobiles.
    “I’m in here.”
    She found him in her room. Jeremy was lying on his stomach, head at the foot of her bed, feet in the air, iPhone in his hands. The sound on the TV was muted but the closed captioning was on.
    She asked, “Everything okay?”
    He tilted the iPhone in his hands, obviously playing a game. “Yeah.”
    Faith remembered the fertile girlfriend. It was strange she wasn’t here. They were usually attached at the hip. “Where’s Kimberly?”
    “We’re taking a break,” he said, and she almost sobbed with relief. “I heard you and Zeke yelling.”
    “There’s a first time for everything.”
    He tilted the phone the other way.
    She said, “I’ve been wanting one of those.” He got the hint and put the device in his pocket. “I know you heard the phone ring. It was Will. He’s working with Aunt Amanda.”
    He stared at the TV. “That’s good.”
    Faith started to untie his sneakers. In typical teenage boy logic, he’d thought keeping his feet raised off the bed would stop debris from raining down. “Tell me what happened when Zeke got here.”
    “Dude was being an asshole.”
    “Tell me like I’m your mother.”
    She saw him color slightly in the glow of the TV. “Victor stayed with me. I told him he didn’t have to, but he said he wanted to, so …”
    Faith untied his other sneaker. “You showed him Emma’s picture?”
    He kept staring at the set. Jeremy had really liked Victor—probably more than Faith had, which was only part of the problem.
    She told him, “It’s all right.”
    “Zeke was kinda shitty—I mean rude—to him.”
    “In what way?”
    “Just kinda poking his chest out and pushing him around.”
    Just being Zeke. “Nothing happened, right?”
    “Nah, Victor’s not the type.”
    Faith assumed as much. Victor Martinez worked in an office, read The Wall Street Journal , wore bespoke suits, and washed his hands sixteen times a day. He was about as passionate as a box of hair. It was Faith’s lot in life that she would only ever be able to fall in love with the kind of man who would wear sleeveless T-shirts and punch her brother in the face.
    She slid off Jeremy’s shoe, frowning at the state of his sock. “Toes go on the inside, college boy.” She made a mental note to get him more socks when she ordered his underwear. His jeans were looking ratty, too. So much for the three hundred dollars left in her checking account. Thank God they had suspended her with pay. Faith was going to have to dip into savings just to keep her son from looking like a hobo.
    Jeremy rolled over onto his back to face her. “I showed Victor Emma’s Easter picture.”
    She swallowed. Victor was a smart man, but it didn’t take a genius to do the