AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Yep. She’s in town.”
“Did you get to talk to her?” Justine asks.
I nod with a shrug. “Only for a second. She seemed just as surprised to see me as I was to see her.”
“She didn’t know you’d moved back?” Justine asks, placing her hand on my shoulder, realizing just how big of a deal that really is, considering what happened.
I shake my head. “Didn’t seem like it.” I turn to my dad. “You didn’t tell her?”
He shakes his head. “I haven’t spoken to her in years. How long is she in town for?”
“No clue. Like I said, we only spoke for a minute, and then I had to run.”
“Do you think you’ll see her again?” Justine asks, and I laugh.
“It’s Mason Creek. Not sure if I can go anywhere without running into her.”
CHAPTEREIGHTEEN
Hannah
After my mom’s doctor’s appointment, we all went back to her place. Once we were settled, Susie took off, leaving me with my mom.
I make us both some iced tea and curl up on the couch next to her.
“So, tell me what’s going on, Mom,” I say.
“I feel fine. Susie said things didn’t seem fine, so she called you.” She grabs my hand. “I’m so sorry she made you come all the way up here for nothing.”
“No, Mom, it’s not nothing. I’m really worried about you. I noticed the house wasn’t kept like you used to keep it too.”
She blows me off. “Give me a break. So what? I’ve gotten a little lazy with housekeeping. There’s no one here to judge me. I’m just tired at the end of the day, is all.”
“How’s work going?” I take a sip, realizing Susie didn’t really mention anything about the market.
“They have me working in the back on, um … I do …” She pauses and shakes her head. “Sorry. I’ve been talking so much today that I can’t think straight.”
I close my eyes and blink back tears. This is how she’s been for a while. I just didn’t know it actually meant something. I forget words or what I am talking about sometimes. Doesn’t everyone? I just chalked it up to that and her saying she needed protein. She always seemed to need protein.
How did I miss something serious was going on?
“Are you doing stock in the back?” I ask, remembering now that she did mention working in the back more often.
“What?” she asks like she forgot what she was trying to say earlier, then remembers. “Oh yeah. Stock. That’s it.” She shrugs. “So, yeah, I spend most of my time back there.”
She takes a sip, and I really look at her. She’s lost a ton of weight, and there’s something about her eyes that seems different. I know I’m looking at my mom, but I’m not sure how much of my mom is actually still there.
I spend the rest of the day with her. We hang out and cook dinner together.
After we eat she yawns as I pick up her plate from the kitchen table, so I say, “Why don’t you go put on one of your concert DVDs, and I’ll clean up?”
She grins up at me. “That sounds like a great idea. What do you think, Heart or The Eagles?”
“You know I’ll always say Heart.” I head to the sink as she walks to the living room.
In a few seconds, I hear the voices of Ann and Nancy Wilson, introducing themselves right before they start their song “Barracuda.”
I dance around in the kitchen listening to the speakers above me because, yes, she has them hooked up to the television too so she can listen to her DVDs in here as well, while I clean up our mess. It feels so good to be back home. Moving to Tennessee was beyond stressful, and I forgot what it felt like just to be here, in the comfort of the kitchen I grew up in, listening to the same songs that really are the soundtracks of my childhood.
