AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Nora stopped bothering to learn their names when she was twelve. If Earlene had ever mentioned Robert before, Nora didn’t remember. He didn’t matter. He wasn’t going to last. None of them did.
Much as Nora wanted to blow off her mother, she put her car in gear and began to back out of the Monroe’s driveway. “I’ll stop by on my way home.”
“I’ll be here.”
Earlene disconnected and Nora dropped her phone into her lap, silently fuming. She couldn’t explain the obligation she felt toward her mother. It certainly wasn’t love. Sometimes she thought it might be pity. Whatever it was, it was why she answered the phone. It was why she was headed to the trailer park she hated so much. Nora-Jean didn’t have it in her to cut off the only parent she’d ever known, no matter how much she despised her.
Sensing her own mother’s mood, Evie didn’t say much on their twenty-minute journey. When they pulled into the trailer park, she grew even more quiet. Nora peeked back at her little girl using the rearview mirror and noticed the uneasy discomfort she exhibited recognizing the place.
“We’ll be here for just a couple minutes, okay, baby?”
Evie nodded and the resentment Nora felt toward Earlene grew heavy like a stone in her belly. The park held no fond memories for Nora, and she regretted the truth would hold true for Evie. She’d met her grandmother once. She was so little then she couldn’t possibly remember. Of course, Evelyn knewofEarlene; but Earlene was so narcissistic, she rarely even acknowledged Evelyn’s existence.
Nora pulled to a stop next to a beat-up, Honda Civic hatchback—the red hue of the hood rusting away into a nasty brown. Her headlights beaming toward the old, familiar trailer, Nora saw as her mother came out the front door. She was in a pair of knock-off, furry, ankle boots and a cotton nighty that draped over her too-thin frame. The knee-length cardigan she wore over the nighty was ratty, holes worn through the pockets.Her shoulder-length hair was dyed blonde, her roots dark and overgrown. The state of Earlene’s hair always hurt Nora a little.
Shaking the thought away, she reached for the wallet buried in her purse. She usually kept an emergency twenty on hand. With Christmas right around the corner, it was a wonder she still had it. Nora didn’t want for much. She worked hard and spent wisely, determined to provide for her daughter in such a way that she would never know what it was like to go hungry. Any extra funds she earned, she saved for emergencies. This wasn’t exactly her idea of an emergency, but she wasn’t cold hearted, even though it would have been easier.
“I’ll be right back, Evie-B,” she announced, leaving the car running as she stepped out.
She closed the driver’s side door behind her. The night air was cold, too cold to be wearing only a sweater. For a second, Nora wondered if it was possible for the temperature to be colder in the trailer park than in the town that surrounded it.
“Good of you to come,” murmured Earlene.
Nora said nothing in reply but closed the distance between them and held out the twenty-dollar bill. Earlene accepted it, but then spread it open like she was expecting more than one.
“Twenty dollars?” she muttered. “What am I supposed to do with this?”
“I don’t know, mom. Put a little gas in your car. Buy some bread and some eggs.”
“Come on, now—I need more than this. Didn’t you hear me before? I was robbed!”
“Twenty is all I’ve got.” Nora slid her fingertips into the back pockets of her jeans and shrugged. “Maybe next time you’ll think twice about who you let in your bed.”
Her lip curled into a sneer as her spine straightened. They were exactly the same height, which allowed Earlene to lookNora directly in the eyes as she spat, “You judgmental little bitch.”
A noise rose out of Nora’s throat, sounding something like a clipped laugh. She wasn’t amused. Rather, she was startled by how the words managed to sting after all they’d been through. It was easier to laugh than to cry. It was preferred. She’d cried enough tears over her relationship with Earlene Perkins.
“Goodbye, mom,” she said in reply, turning on her heel. Under her breath, she mumbled, “You’re welcome.”
She sank down into the driver’s seat of her car and didn’t even bother to buckle her seatbelt before she backed out of her spot and pointed her vehicle toward the exit. When she arrived at the stop sign at the edge of the property, she let out a sigh and finally reached for the belt.
“Mommy?” Evie whispered.
“Yes, Evie?”
“Are you okay?”
Nora sealed her eyes closed tight at the question, the knot in her throat lodging itself there without warning. She had to swallow three times, forcing down her emotions before she turned in her seat and reached for her daughter’s hand.
“I’m okay,” she insisted, squeezing Evie’s fingers. “I love you.”
“I love you, too, mommy.”
She held on to Evie for another moment, then let go as she turned her attention back toward the road ahead of her. She looked both ways, then turned left, headed home.
“Where do you think you’re goin’, you little slut?” screeches Earlene as I burst through the front door and fly down the steps. I don’t stop until I’m seated in the front seat of Mitzi’s Chevy coup.
Before I even reach for my seatbelt, I tell Mitzi, “Drive.”
