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I shrug innocently. “Go on. Pick a cruise. Any cruise. I don’t have a real preference, although I think I might like the idea of the islands better.”
“You really are too much.”
She makes no move toward my laptop, though, so I grab her hand and lead her over to my bed, where my laptop's been charging while we went to breakfast.
“Come on, Mom. Picking the cruise is going to be a blast.”
“I just… I never wanted you to think that your brother was my favorite,” she murmurs as she sits on the edge of the bed.
I sit next to her. “Mom, seriously. I don’t care.”
“But I do. I never picked him over you. I don’t love him more than I love you. You both are my whole world. Your father used to be too, but…”
“Not anymore. So you have more love for me and Kyle now. Works for me.” I laugh.
“But you—”
“Mom, seriously. Forget I said that he was your favorite, okay? I was just talking, teasing. I didn’t mean anything by it.”
But her eyes are filling with tears.
I grab her hands and squeeze them. “Mom, you know I love you. I seriously didn’t mean anything by it. I’m sorry.”
She sniffs and pulls one of her hands free to wipe her cheek. “I’m sorry. My emotions… I’m a mess.”
“That’s completely understandable. You can be a lush mess on the cruise ship with me, okay? It’ll be a girls’ thing. We’ll have a blast. Do it up right. Just you and me.” I reach over and wipe some more of her tears away.
“I should be the one taking care of you,” she protests. “I’m sorry—”
“For what? Look, Father’s an asshole, but I wouldn’t be alive if it weren’t for him. I’m grateful for that, at least, but you aren’t going to have any more kids with him, so kick him to the curb before he kills you, okay?”
“I’m not sure if that’s calming my nerves any like you’re trying to,” she says dryly.
I burst out laughing and kiss her cheek. “If you want me to run to the liquor store and buy you something—”
“You aren’t twenty-one! Do I have to keep reminding you of that?”
“Then do you want me to buy you a pack of smokes?”
“I don’t smoke either!”
“You need something to calm down. How about I buy you a vibrator?”
“Katie!”
I laugh so hard I start to cry, and eventually, my mom laughs too, groaning and wondering aloud where she went wrong with me which only makes me laugh that much harder.
CHAPTER7
Iblast some music on my phone as I resume packing. Every few minutes, though, my mom would ask my opinion about this or that, until finally, instead of pausing the music, I just shut it off.
“Have you made a final decision?” I ask. “Because I really don’t care what we do.”
"I'm eyeing this one, but it would mean getting back two days before college starts," she says.
“Which one?” I hop onto the bed beside her.
She tilts the laptop so we can both see the screen.
