“Yeah. Fuck that guy.” Dad hadn’t even come back for Alice’s funeral, claiming he’d been off-grid and got the notice too late.
“I did, dear.” Mom sipped her tea and smiled.
I snorted into my coffee. “Mom!”
“Well, really, you’re a nurse. You know the facts of life.” Her smile faded. “Alice, though.” We were quiet for a moment. “Life’s going to sucker punch you sometimes. No way around it.”
“Loving people is like putting a target on your chin,” I muttered.
“Well, yeah. But the alternative is not loving anyone.”
I shrugged and drank more coffee.
“That’s not you, Lee. You love deeply and hard. You’re made for that. And when I die—” She put up a hand to block my automatic protest. “—come on, kiddo, you know the odds. I don’t want you to be alone.”
“I have friends.” I eased into my seat kitty-corner from her and set the mug on the table.
“Outside of Wellhaven?”
“Work friends can be real friends.”
“How many of them do you go out with, do things for fun with?”
“Kashira and I went to see Griffin’s show, and we saw a movie last month.” Or maybe two months ago.
Mom did a slow golf clap, one eyebrow raised. Willow batted at her wrist in protest until she went back to stroking. “I’m glad you get along with Kashira. I’m not suggesting she’s not a good friend. But you’ve been isolated for a long time. And some of that’s my fault.”
“No, it’s not.”
She waved me off. “I was too wrapped up in myself to even see it. I was glad you were always home, because I couldn’t stand being alone. But I had a session with that online therapist you found for me.”
“You did?” I hadn’t been optimistic. “That’s great. Did you like her?”
“I’m not sure ‘like’ is the right word. But I think she’ll be good for me. She asked me what my biggest regret of the last ten years was, and I thought I’d talk about Alice, but what came out of my mouth was you. Neglecting you. Leaning on you so hard.”
“You never neglected me. I was glad to help.” Being needed was all that’d gotten me through the awful months after we lost Alice.
“You’re a good man. And you deserve someone like Griffin to take care of you sometimes. I’m sorry if his health is worrying you, though. You did say health?”
That dragged me out of the past to the present. It wasn’t much improvement.Now you’re getting melodramatic.“I’m just being silly. He’d be the first person to say so.”Because he doesn’t take his own health seriously.I shook off the topic and sat down. “Tell me about Willow. What did she get into today?” Our cat, for all her chill personality, was a Houdini.
Mom smiled and let me change the subject. “Well, you know that box in the closet with the winter boots in it? Somehow she pushed down the top, snuck in, and it popped back up with the flaps still woven together. So of course, I never looked in there. Two hours I spent looking for her and not a peep. Until I finally opened a can of tuna, and then the meowing started.”
I had to laugh. “She’s training you to give her the good stuff.”
“Well, the joke’s on her. I made a tuna sandwich for lunch and Little Miss Greedy Paws only got a tiny taste.”
“She doesn’t seem to be holding a grudge.” I nodded to where the cat was kneading Mom’s slacks with her small beige-toed paws and purring.
“I raised two kids. I know how to be firm but kind.” Mom reached out and laid her fingers on my knee. “Now drink your coffee and don’t worry too much.”
I’d spent a lifetime listening to Mom, so I took a long swallow of the hazelnut-flavored brew. Obeying the second half of her command would be a work in progress.
Chapter 17
Griffin
I winced and coughed as the doctor eased the fiber optic scope out of my nose.
