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Her dad had texted to say he would be arriving with Mom at eleven Sunday morning, which meant their car would be in front of Hayley’s house by eleven at the absolute latest. Hayley was not going to keep them waiting, even just for the time it took her to answer the door. She couldn’t afford to start this visit off on the wrong foot.
The milkshakes threw her off a little, though.
“That diner had mint chocolate chip.” Mom was very pleased as she climbed the front steps. “Not everybody has mint chocolate chip.”
“Or blueberry.” Dad handed Hayley a giant Styrofoam cup and kept one for himself. “I got blueberry for the antioxidants.”
Mom gave him a look. “You don’t even know what antioxidants are.”
“I don’t have to know what they are. I know they’re good for me.”
“Not when they’re buried under all that sugar.”
“You don’t know that. They could counteract the sugar.”
Thirty-three years together, and they still wanted to tease each other after a four-hour car ride. This was the kind of love she wanted. This was the love she could never seem to get for herself.
Hayley started to cry.
Mom embraced her from one side and Dad from the other. “It’ll all be okay,” Mom said.
“Sure it will,” Dad agreed. “We’ll go back and get some antioxidants for you too.”
Hayley giggled through her sobs, and then she was laughing in her parents’ arms for the first time in far too long.
“And then I went back to work,” she said later. “That’s it.”
They were on the couch now, and the Styrofoam cups had been drained as Hayley told her parents everything. It was like cleaning out a wound. Mom and Dad already knew the worst part: Both Kevin and Nick were out of her life. There wasn’t any point in lying about why. Better to get it all out so nothing festered.
“Is there anything we can do?” Dad asked.
Hayley shrugged. “I’ll be fine.”
“Okay.” He clapped his hands on his thighs and stood up. “I’m going to tackle the laundry.”
“Dad, you don’t need to do that.”
“I don’t?” he said amiably. “So everything’s squeaky clean upstairs, huh?”
He winked at her, and she waved him on. They both knew her room was a mess on a good day.
“He needs something to do,” Mom said as Dad climbed the steps.
“Uh-huh.” Hayley braced herself. “And you wanted him to go so you could talk to me.”
Mom shifted on the cushion, brushing her legs with her hands, as if wrinkles or crumbs would ever dare to mar her slacks.
“I wanted to talk to you about your father and me,” she said.
Here it came. “Mom,” Hayley pleaded. “Can we skip this?”
“No, I don’t think we can.”
“Grandma Marjorie let you do whatever you wanted,” Hayley recited wearily, “and you wish every day that you’d had more boundaries growing up, so I should be happy you care enough to give them to me. If it weren’t for Dad showing up, you’d be a mess now. I could tattoo the story on my arm at this point. Doesn’t mean I’m ever going to find someone to love me like Dad loves you.”
“I haven’t explained it well enough.”
“You’ve explained it, Mom.” Hayley slumped. “You’re smarter than me, and I need to find a good man.”
