AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Part of it, yeah. Mine would regrow.”
“Still, that’s a major surgery, right?”
“It’s surgery, yeah.” I deliberate, then add, “If I’d been a match and gone through with it, I probably would have missed most of the season.”
Sydney looks shocked. “You would have given upbasketball? Forher?”
“I was…considering it. She’s, you know, our mom.”
“She’s astranger, Holden. I can’t believe you even recognized her at the hospital. She must look totally different.”
There are unspoken questions in her words. She wants to know more but isn’t sure about asking.
“She looks sick,” I say. “And I…” I exhale, debating and then deciding to come completely clean. Might as well get it all out there. I’m in this far. “It wasn’t the first time I’d seen her since she left. She showed up when we were in high school, right after Dad died. Once at the house when you weren’t home. Then again, at the high school after one of my practices. I wasn’t sure if I should tell you. There was so much other stuff going on. We were both grieving…”
Sydney blinks at me. “You saw her? Talked to her?Yearsago?”
“Yes.”
“Did she ask about me?”
This. This is exactly why I never said a word. Because I hear the tentative hope in her voice, the foolishness that I had too. That she’d shown up to express regrets, to make amends. To rebuild bridges that had been reburned.
But she didn’t offer any of those things. Didn’t even give me the satisfaction of telling her that we wanted nothing to do with her. That she had to live with her mistakes.
And my mom isn’t here to crush the hope in Sydney’s voice, so I have to.
“No.”
Sydney looks away, hiding her disappointment. “What did she want? Money?”
“No. It was…she said we were better off without her. That Dad was a better parent because she left.” I shake my head. “No regrets. No apologies. There wasn’t really anything to tell, but I probably should have said something to you. I never thought I’d see her again.”
“But you’d still do that for her? Donate?”
“I was considering it. There was no harm in getting tested. Now I don’t have to feel guilty about it.”
“What if I’m a match?” she asks.
“You’repregnant, Sydney.”
Her laugh is bitter. “I know. How ironic is that? We ruined her life, according to her. I messed up mine. And I could maybe save her life, except I can’t because I repeated her mistakes.”
“Don’t think that way. It is what it is.”
Sydney plays with her napkin. “I want to see her,” she announces suddenly.
“What?”
“Mom. I want to see her. Do you know where she lives?”
I stare at her, stunned. I had no clue where this conversation might go, but this is the last thing I expected. “Um, sort of.”
She nods. “Set it up. I’ll come back to Pembrooke next weekend. You don’t have to show up, but I’d like you to be there too.”
“Of course I’ll go with you. But, Syd… I’m not sure if this is a good idea. Honestly, I’m not sureshe’ll show up. She’s never…she still wants nothing to do with us. Her…the guy she was with is the one who told me about the cancer. She just walked away.”
The determination remains on Sydney’s face, no sign of second-guessing. I have no clue what that means. If it’s a healthy or terrible reaction.
