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“Your business is about to bury you,” Miranda shot back.
“Nonsense.”
“Mom, when was the last time Dad even stepped foot into this house?”
Jennelle’s mouth quivered for a moment but her jaw firmed a second later as she shrugged. “Your father comes and goes as he pleases. Miranda, I hate to shatter your illusions about marriage, but sometimes after a certain number of years, it’s more about being pleasant neighbors than lovers.”
Miranda stared at her mother, not buying Jennelle’s answer. “There’s no room for him!”
“Now you’re being melodramatic,” Jennelle scoffed, but there was something—guilt perhaps?—in her mother’s eyes. “I’m not going to argue with you. I don’t traipse into your house and start criticizing the way you keep it.”
Miranda’s frustration threatened to bubble over in an explosion of angry words but she choked them down and took a breather. She didn’t come to fight. “Mom...I need to talk to you.”
“About what?”
“Simone.”
“No.” Jennelle pushed past her, not purposefully, only because there wasn’t enough room for two people to pass. “There’s no sense in bringing up the past.”
“Mom, please don’t run away from me when I’m trying to talk to you,” Miranda pleaded, following her mother into the crowded living room. “You know this family is falling apart and no one seems to notice or care.” Jennelle scoffed at that but Miranda wasn’t going to stop. “Wade never comes home, Trace is in denial and Dad never comes out of his shop. We used to be a family who did things together and now we never even speak.”
“I can’t control how others behave. Your brothers know where to find us. Your father is busy with his carving—”
“Stop! You and I both know that he hasn’t carved in years. He’s selling marijuana out of that shop. Stop trying to sugarcoat what’s really going on.”
Her mother’s lip trembled. “You’re always so quick to find fault with others, aren’t you? How in the world did I raise such a critical child? No one is perfect, Miranda. Perhaps you ought to remember that before you start picking people apart.”
“I’m not picking anyone apart, Mother. I’m stating a fact that you refuse to recognize. We used to be a family! Don’t you see how everything has gone to hell?”
“Circumstances that we couldn’t control...” Jennelle started but couldn’t finish, fighting back tears. She wiped at her eyes in agitation. “See what you’ve done? Why does every conversation with you have to be so confrontational?”
In the face of her mother’s pain, Miranda’s anger lost some of its heat and she softened her tone as she said, “I don’t want every conversation to be so difficult between us, Mother. I’m trying to say that I’m worried about you and our family. We’re falling apart and we have been for a long time. Simone’s been gone a long time. Isn’t it time we let her go?”
At that Jennelle’s head snapped up and raw panic rimmed her eyes. “Let her go? She was your sister. How can you suggest such a thing? You cannot expect a mother to forget about her child—ever. To even ask such a thing is unconscionable. Shame on you for suggesting it.”
Miranda blinked back tears. “I’m not asking you to forget about Simone. I’m asking you to remember that you have three other children as well as a grandson who need you.” Miranda cast a despairing glance around the claustrophobic mess crowding every nook and cranny. “I can’t bring Talen into this house. It’s too dangerous. Don’t you want to spend more time with your only grandson?”
“Of course I do,” Jennelle answered. “You’re the one who keeps him from me. You’d rather Talen spend time with that Indian woman than me.”
“Please stop saying ‘that Indian woman’ with such disdain. She’s Talen’s blood kin and he loves her very much. Hearing something like that would hurt his feelings and confuse him.”
“I would never say such a thing around Talen,” her mother said, looking away. “He can’t help who he’s related to.”
That sentiment goes both ways, Miranda thought privately but took a moment to settle the immediate snap on her tongue. “Is it possible for us to talk to one another without devolving into a sniping fight? I’d like to repair our relationship somehow but you have to meet me halfway.”
Jennelle softened but remained wary, saying, “You’re certainly welcome to visit more often if you promise not to be so critical of how I live my life.”
