AllFreeNovel
Share Us
ChapterNineteen
“Surprise, Mom!”
“Rory,” Andrea managed to squeeze out even though it felt as if all the air had left her body.
Rory wrapped her arms around her mother, but the warmth emanating from her couldn’t chase the chills running up and down Andrea’s spine.
“What on earth are you doing here? I thought you said you guys couldn’t make it again.”
“It’s just me,” Rory revealed. “James’s case is still in the early stages, so he can’t travel, but after the last two attempts to come here to visit you and realizing it may not be possible for us to travel together for a while, he convinced me to come, and so here I am,” she explained. “But judging from your reaction, I would say you’re not happy I’m here,” she observed.
“No, I’m happy… Of course, I’m happy, honey. You just took me off guard. I’ve missed you.” Andrea mustered a smile she hoped was bright enough to hide the panic attack she was having. “It’s just that I went out, and it didn’t go as expected, and I’m not feeling well.”
“Oh yeah, Aunt Cora told me you were on a date. What happened?” Rory enquired, going into full worry mode.
“It wasn’t a date, and it’s nothing,” she said nonchalantly.
“Are you sure?” Rory asked, unconvinced. “Because earlier you weren’t feeling well.”
“I think it was the sun. I was out in the sun too long.”
“Then you should go lie down, Mom. We can catch up when you’re feeling better.”
“Okay, sweetie,” she agreed, lightly cupping her daughter’s cheek before releasing it and heading upstairs.
As soon as she stepped through the door of her room, she crumpled on the floor while dry heaving. She hadn’t felt a panic attack as intense in a while, and it took all her energy to crawl toward her desk to remove the paper bag of sweets, then empty the content before bringing the bag to her mouth and breathing in and out to calm down.
Shortly after she managed to pull herself onto her bed, there was a knock at the door, and Cora pushed her head through.
“Rory said you weren’t feeling well,” she said softly as she stepped into the room and closed the door.
“Oh my God, Cora, what am I going to do?” she asked, crumpling the bag in her hand.
Cora walked over to her sister at sat beside her on the bed. “You have to tell her, Drea,” she implored. “Before it’s too late and you lose her forever.”
Andrea exhaled as her sister’s words sank in.
“How long before the clause in the will expires?”
“The end of this month,” Andrea replied weakly.
Cora sucked in her breath. “Drea, that’s less than three weeks away. You will have to muster the courage to tell her, both for hers and your sake.”
“I will,” Andrea promised. “After the barbecue.”
“Drea—”
“After the barbecue,” she reiterated.
Cora sighed but chose to give up on the topic for now. “What happened at the cookout? I thought you would be there until at least evening.”
At this, Andrea groaned. “Yeah, that was the plan, but then I overheard Donny talking to his son about me never being able to take the place of his dead wife, and I don’t know… I guess something just broke in me, and I just couldn’t stay,” she confessed.
Cora gave her a sympathetic look. “You really liked him, don’t you?”
“No…yes…maybe…I don’t know.” She exhaled. “I wasn’t looking to get involved in a relationship with him, and based on his response, he wasn’t looking for one either. Now that’s resolved, I can go back to doing what I was hired for.”
Cora patted her back but didn’t offer any words of advice.
