“A ring that Cooper and I gave to Mom after Dad died,” I explained. “All three stones are ruby. Our shared birthstone.”
“Of course they are. There’s the trinity,” she whispered. “Of course thatis it.”
“What is?” I asked, but then I heard a car door. “What is what?” I insisted, realizing Mom was probably home.
“I’m not exactly sure.”
“Are you kidding me?” I raged.
She shoved a card at me that had her contact information on it. “Take that. Hide it. Call me tomorrow and I’ll have more,” she stated.
I heard the key in the door. Mom was home.
“And, Michael. Be careful what you affect by being here,” Druzella advised.
“What the fuck? Tell me now,” I demanded.
Druzella held up a hand and brought a finger to her mouth, shaking her head no just as Mom walked through the door.
CHAPTER FIFTY-THREE: Cooper
Iwatched as my mother, Kathleen, and the goofy looking lady with the purple VW stood chatting in front of Mikey’s house. The strange woman had arrived about thirty minutes before our mom’s had returned from errands. After texting Mikey to ask what she was doing there, I went back to cleaning my room while I waited for his response.
I was making a birthday card for Mikey and was trying not to be too mushy. After years of imagining him as my boyfriend, I had a million things I wanted to express, but fear of pushing him away was still haunting me. I hoped beyond hope that I was truly what he wanted. I’d decided to trust him because I loved him, but I was only human. I was worried.
I glanced at Mikey’s bedroom window which was above where the ladies were visiting. He was standing in his room and watching me too. I held my phone to my ear, suggesting he either call me or asking if I could call him. My cell rang instantly.
“Hey, handsome,” he said when I answered. “Miss me?”
“Sure do,” I replied. I checked on the women just below his window. “What are they talking about over there?”
“Who knows? You know my mom,” he said. “Could be just about anything.”
“Who is that lady?” I asked, having noticed her last week. “She sure dresses unusual.”
“She’s some madame who sees shit,” Mikey said. “I don’t know exactly what she’s called, but she talks to Mom about the stars and the future I think.”
“That’s what I figured,” I stated. “I should show her something weird that I noticed.”
“Oh, hell no,” Mikey replied. “Please don’t do that.”
I was about to drop the topic but my curiosity got the better of me. “Do you remember the pictures that Jen gave us last year?” I asked. “The one of us swimming in Campbell Lake?”
Mikey was silent.
“Hello?”
“Yeah, I remember, why?”
“Do you still have yours?”
“Mom stuck mine in a photo album, why?” he asked.
“I’d rather show you,” I said. “Could you grab yours and come over?”
We’d been watching each other as we spoke and I saw him duck out of view and then pop back up in the window. He held up a dark colored photo album in the window. “Got it. Hang on a sec,” he said. I could hear the pages flipping, him laughing occasionally. “God, we can be weird. Some of these pics are stupid,” he commented. I heard the static sound of stuck plastic pages crackling as he sifted through the album. “You’re talking about the one in the water, right? Arms around each other with me making bunny ears?”
“That’s the one. Bring it over here, ‘kay?”
