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“And with her burns, it might make her recovery longer, but we suspect she will get better. From both.” He looked around again. “We were just getting ready to leave, if you want to come in to sit with her.”
I found myself nodding my head again. I didn’t want to sit with her. But I also didn’tnotwant to sit with her.
As the medical staff cleared out of the room, I pulled up a chair and felt something I hadn’t felt in a long time when it came to the woman who had given birth to me.
Hope.
34
Vivian
D Appointment:Hey.
I stareddown at my phone and typed back.
Me:Hey.
D Appointment:I’m going to be later tonight than I thought. I’m with my mom.
My breath caught. I couldn’t believe Dominick was with his mother. And he’d referred to her as his “mom.” I had so many questions. But I sensed now was not the time to pry.
I also didn’t really know what he’d meant by “later tonight.” I knew he wanted to talk to me when he had a chance, but we didn’t have plans. But again, I wouldn’t ask. His mom was in the hospital, and he only needed support right now.
Me:I completely understand. I hope your mother is doing well.
D Appointment:Thanks, baby. Later.
I closed my eyes. There was thatbabyagain. I got a little tingle up my spine, seeing him write that.
I turned my screen off and set my phone down. “Again, Vivian, not the time,” I lectured myself.
Someone walking by my office stopped and came back. “Were you talking to me?”
I waved them off. “No.”
They shrugged and kept going.
Turning back to my computer, I tried to think of work. Or rather, I tried to think of anything other than Dominick.
Thankfully, I was able to concentrate on work and finally left the building at around seven. I went home, had a salad for dinner, and cleaned my apartment. But it didn’t stop me from wondering how things were going with Dominick.
* * *
Dominick
The gravel under my car tires crunched as I approached my mom’s trailer. I had yet to inspect it, and something had called me there tonight.
The sun had set, so I aimed my headlights on the home and got as close as the crime scene tape would allow.
As I got out of my vehicle, I saw my mother’s beat-up car with the big wordBitchsprayed across it. And about fifty feet away was the burned shell of where my brother and our mom used to live. I hadn’t realized it was completely destroyed. I didn’t think there could even be anything salvageable left inside.
I took a seat on the hood of my car and stared. It had been a long day. Seeing my little brother locked up and then seeing my mother up close in her hospital bed. Everything had become more real to me. Not that it hadn’t been before, but now, it seemed like there was no denying, no putting in the back of my mind what was happening to my family.
I ran my hand over my face and hung my head. The stress of it all felt heavy, but I was the only person they had.
Sometimes, I wondered what it would have been like if my parents hadn’t gotten into an accident. Would they still be married? Would my mother have never started drinking? Would I have a father to help me in situations like these?
But then Spencer probably would have never been born, and I didn’t regret my brother coming into my life.
