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“Amanda never talks about your mom. She talks about Emma… a lot… but all she said was she never knew her mom.”
“She didn’t. Not like me. My mom’s lifestyle was very different from ours. She left the church, drank, did drugs, and never found the happiness she sought. Halfway through my senior year of high school, I tried contacting my mom multiple times over the course of a couple of days, but she didn’t answer. She hadn’t posted anything on social media for days and I was worried. So finally, I got in the truck and drove. My dad had forbidden me to go.”
“Why?” Evie asked.
“Because I was failing my English class and was grounded. But I didn’t listen to him and left anyways. When I got to my mom’s apartment, there were police and firefighters everywhere. I wondered if there had been a fire, or if someone had been injured, but that didn’t stop me. When I reached the staircase that led to my mom’s apartment and saw that it had been taped off, I began to worry.
“I asked the EMT standing at the taped-off section leading to the stairs what had happened. She asked me if I lived there. I said no but told them my mother did. She then asked which apartment. At that moment, my mom’s apartment door opened and slowly a gurney exited the door. I remember yelling, “Mom,” and then I saw a white cloth covering the entire body.”
“Oh, Matt!” Evie cried.
“I remember being restrained by multiple police officers and eventually being transported to the police station and they contacted my dad. My mom had no living relatives, so Emma and my dad came and got me. I was still so mad at my dad that I insisted on driving back with Emma, and not my dad.”
“How did she die?”
“Drug overdose. She had been addicted for years, but it got so bad my dad wouldn’t let us stay overnight with her. Once I got my license, I did go and stay some weekends with her, against my dad’s wishes, but I went to make sure she was all right.”
“Why do you think your dad didn’t want you to go?”
“I’m sure he was afraid I’d start doing drugs as well.”
“You mentioned you moved out as soon as you graduated, so I’m assuming your relationship with your dad didn’t improve after your mom died?”
“Nope, it just got worse. My dad can be vindictive and judgmental, but above all… he’s hard-headed. If he thinks he was wronged, nothing can fix that relationship.”
“How was your faith during this time?”
Matt laughed nervously. “Here comes the biggest divider of our relationship.”
“Does it have to be the biggest?” Evie asked.
“I guess we’ll find out. I prayed almost every night that my mom would stop doing drugs and that she would be freed from the pain of addiction. God didn’t listen.”
Evie opened her mouth but shut it when Matt held up his hand.
“Let me rephrase,” he stated. “He may have listened, but he didn’t answer my prayer.”
Evie just pinched her mouth closed.
“I decided that I was either not good enough for Him to answer me or that He didn’t care. So, I left my home and drove to Southern California and tried a different lifestyle. Emma called a lot during my first year, but I never heard from my dad. I bet he was just waiting for the day I showed up on his front porch to plead for forgiveness.”
“What did you do to get by?”
“My Aunt Molly, my dad’s sister, sent me a large sum of money saying it was part of my inheritance from when my grandpa died. She counseled me not to spend it all in one place and suggested I use it for school or vocational training. I used a little of it to rent a studio apartment and then worked two jobs for five years until the building caught fire one night while I was working. I stood back and watched the firefighters in awe and realized that was what I wanted to do.
“I joined the academy and became a firefighter.”
“I bet you’re an amazing firefighter,” Evie smiled.
“I love it,” Matt smiled and then realized there was something he had not thought about since joining the show.
Carla’s death.
“What?” Evie inquired.
“I do love being a firefighter, but lately my heart hasn’t been in it like it used to be.”
“What happened?”
