AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Are you alright, Mom?”
I infuse pep into my voice. “Sure.”
He half-laughs. “Mom.”
I sigh, something I’m realizing I do far too much. “I am fine, honey. Just a little rattled, I guess.”
I think he nods, and I wait for more. “I’m sorry, Mom. I’m really, really sorry.”
“This isn’t your fault.”
Another snort. “Yeah, it is.”
My breath catches at the guilty texture of his tone. “Is something bothering you, honey?” Besides the obvious chaos of the night?
He shakes his head. “I love you, Mom. And I’d never let anyone hurt you!”
Except you, everyday. The thought tumbles through my brain like a frothing wave. Whether it’s his lies, his touchiness, his obsession with Reagan when he should be focused on his future, or simply the relentless growing up and pulling away, yes, he regularly hurts me.
I suppose that’s normal bend on the path toward adulthood.
I stretch forward and lay my palm over his hand. “I know you wouldn’t, honey.”
He squeezes my fingers. “I’m sorry you have to be here.”
“I’m okay. I’m sorry for you. I know you don’t like John.”
He might shrug, I’m not sure. Finally, I hear him expel a breath. “Maybe he’s not quite as bad as I thought he was.”
∞∞∞
“You’re stayingwhere?”
Marlene plants her hand on her cocked-out hip, her gooped-up, spidery eyelashes flapping like shirts on a clothesline.
“I’m staying—Jacob and I are staying—with Agent Chavez for a couple of days until the police figure something out.”
“AgentChavez? Uh-huh.”
I glare, then focus on the salt shaker I’m filling for as long as is absolutely possible. Ultimately, I’ve no choice other than to look up. The instant I do, she waggles her shoulders. “You’re going to be there a while, sugar. The police around here don’t do squat.” She rolls her hands together. “Oh, this is exciting!”
I stop and scowl, the carton of salt hanging in the air. “My home was vandalized, you know? My son was threatened.”
That draws a slightly more serious mien—for an instant. Shaking Marlene loose of her ideas about me and men—finding me a man—is no easy task. She elbows my side, lowering her voice as if relaying a state secret. “Make the most of this, girlfriend. Don’t let this one get away.”
“He’s not…I’m not…” What’s the point? My coworker and I have circled this block until I’m dizzy.
Unlike Marlene’s hips, her blonde-coated, graying hair doesn’t so much as wobble when she shakes her head. “You’re a weird one, girlie. You’ve got the looks and the class to get a man like that, but you just won’t.”
When she darts away to tend to a customer waving her down from the breakfast counter, she’s still shaking her head. Weird? She’s used the exact word before. Today, it stings.
Like most days, I have barely enough time to shove down a thin grilled cheese sandwich before walking the eight blocks to the dental office. I promised John I wouldn’t go by my apartment or walk after dark. I didn’t say anything about walking around in the daytime.
He delivered quite the lecture before bed last night to both Jacob and me, a lecture about safety and being alert and, most of all, not going back home. Surely that’s overkill. The brick was a scare tactic, and the message has been received.
Look at me being brave.
Actingbrave is more like it.
