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“HI, SWEETIE. Good news!” Mom held the car door open for Kelsey on Friday, a smile spreading over her face.
“What?” Kelsey asked, pulling hard so the door would shut behind her. She had good news, too. Josie was her best friend again.
“I talked to an attorney and he says he’s going to help us, so we can see each other without hiding.”
“Really?” She wanted that so bad it almost hurt to let herself believe it.
Her mom brushed at the hairs on Kelsey’s forehead. “Really.” Her eyes looked so sure that Kelsey thought she must be right.
“Thank you,” she said, nearly crying as she gave her mother a hug. Life had been weird lately, but maybe not anymore.
“You don’t need to thank me, baby,” her mom said, sounding like she was crying a little, too. “You’re my daughter. You’re supposed to be with me.”
That was what Kelsey thought, too. Stuff got messed up
, but it was getting better now and that was all that counted.
“Listen, I need to make a couple of stops,” her mom said when they finally stopped hugging. “My allergies have been bothering me and I’m all out of medicine.”
“’Kay.” Kelsey didn’t care if they shopped, as long they were together. And her dad didn’t find out.
The store took a while to get to, since they had to drive for a while to be sure Kelsey didn’t see anyone she knew. And then they wouldn’t let her mother buy as many boxes of allergy medicine as she wanted, even after Mom explained that she lived far away and didn’t have a lot of money for gas. So then they had to go to another store. Mom’s allergies were really bad and her neighbor was reacting to whatever had bloomed, too, so Mom was picking some up for her.
As they drove, Kelsey told her about Ms. Foster. Mom had seen her on TV and wondered if Kelsey knew her. Kelsey told her mom about Josie and that they were best friends again. Mom listened to every word she said and that was right.
Kelsey didn’t like keeping secrets from her dad, but how could she be wrong when she was with her mom who loved her and was working it out so Kelsey wouldn’t have to lie?
“We’ve got half an hour before I take you back to the corner,” Mom said when they’d finished with the third store, which gave her more boxes of pills than the other two had. “Would you mind terribly if we go by my house so I can get this stuff to my friend? She was really feeling bad earlier.”
Kelsey didn’t want to go there. Mom’s house was dirty and boring, and Don was there. But she wanted to be with her, so she shook her head. “I don’t mind,” she said.
Mom smiled and turned the car in the direction of her neighborhood. Meredith would have known she didn’t mean it about not minding. Her mom didn’t get it at all.
Kelsey wasn’t sure which way she liked better.
SHE STOOD in the living room alone while Mom went out through the garage to the house next door. She was supposed to be sitting and she could turn on the television, but she didn’t feel like doing either. Don wasn’t out on the road with his truck like she’d hoped. And Kelsey didn’t want to see him.
“You gotta get used to it,” she whispered, because she needed to hear someone talk before she got too scared and just ran away. She loved her mom so much. She’d learn to like her house. And be okay with Don, too.
Her mom was.
The garage door opened. “Hey, squirt.”
“Hi.” Kelsey looked down. The man’s teeth were just too gross. It had to be more than coffee that did that to them. One was even broken.
“Your mom told me you were in here. She’ll be back in a second.”
Wondering what her dad would say if he could see her right then, Kelsey nodded.
“I’m just going out to my truck to get some flares,” he said, heading toward the back door beyond which there was a big cement pad where Mom said he kept his truck when he wasn’t driving.
Don owned his own rig, but drove for only one company. Mom acted like that was a big deal.
He was back before Mom, his arms full of red dynamite-looking things like she’d sometimes see on the highway with Dad when there’d been a bad accident. “Truck drivers always have lots of these,” he said, smiling at her. Kelsey wished he wouldn’t. His beard went in his mouth when he did that and it showed his teeth.
She made herself smile as much as she could. And let go of a big breath when he disappeared again through the garage door. At least he seemed happy. That was a good thing. Wasn’t it?
There was a box open on the wood table by the couch and Kelsey wondered what was in it. And where most of the junk around the room came from. Mom had never had little glass rabbits like the ones that were all over the top of the television and the fake flowers in the window were more dusty than pretty. Her head jerked back around to stare at the floor when the garage door opened again.
