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A sigh. “Honey, stop.”
“Mom. You’re out here by yourself, none of us are really close—”
“You’re saying thirty minutes—forty tops—isn’t close?” she asked dryly, wringing out the towel into the sink basin.
“Well, it’s not around the corner,” he said, giving up on the fastener and stopping the cycle on the washer so no more water would run through the lines. “I’ll have to go to the store and get some parts.”
She stepped in front of him, swiping the line with a towel, drying the wall. “I have a plumber coming tomorrow.”
“Cancel it,” he ordered. “I can fix this.”
“Honey.”
There was a sharp edge to her tone that set him on edge.
He wiped his hands, leaned back against the doorway of her laundry room. “What’s up, Ma?”
“Ihavea plumber coming tomorrow.”
“It’ll take me twenty minutes to go to the hardware store and back—”
“Honey.”
That wasn’t just a sharp edge. It was sharp through and through, whipping across his skin and slicing deep. “What’s wrong?”
A sigh, her face softening as she crossed to him and cupped his cheeks in both hands. “Nothing, honey. Just go to the hardware store. I’ll keep dinner warm.” She pressed a kiss to his forehead, dropped her arms, and moved into the hall.
He watched her go and thus, saw the slight shake of her head.
“Hey,” he said, moving after her, catching her arm. “What’s wrong?”
She tugged free. “It’s fine, baby.”
Maybe normally he would have taken that at face value, would have gone to the hardware store and taken care of the washer—
Stop trying to fix my life when I don’t need it.
Teresa had said to him.
Said it with defeat in her eyes, as though expecting him to not listen, her posture so much like his mom’s as she walked away from him…
It made him wonder.
Damn. It made himwonder.
He stepped in front of her. “Mom.”
She sighed again, her head dropping forward so her chin plunked down against her chest. “Let’s just have a nice night, okay?”
Said like she was trying to placate a small child.
“Mom, seriously, what thefu—heck?”
Her head came up, eyes locking with his. “You know, sometimes I really wish your father hadn’t died.”
He frowned.
Didn’t they all?
