“Phoebe?” My mom’s soft voice is even quieter than usual, but it’s comforting. It feels like home, and sounds like my childhood, even if that home and childhood are only memories now. “I’m fine, baby. Just gave Sam a little scare. And you, too.”
“Mom, let me come see you,” I plead.
“No way. There’s a tube up my nose and I look scary. And I have an IV. You hate needles.”
“So do you.”
“Even more when they’re stuck in my arm. Sweetie, I promise, I’m fine. I didn’t even want Sam to call you, but he insisted.”
“I’m glad he did. If you’d have told me after the fact, I’d have lost my mind.” I grumble.
Sam’s voice comes on the phone again. “She’s getting sleepy, so I’m gonna hang up, if you’re ok? I know you need to get to work soon. Drive carefully, ok?”
“Always. Send me updates, please?”
“Promise,” Sam says before he hangs up. The line goes dead and I sit in the big, comfy chair and stare at the wall for a second.
I know she’s fine.
She sounded fine.
And, Lord knows, finding the right combination of meds is a tricky thing. My mom has struggled with depression since I was a kid, but she always managed to keep it under control. Sure, there were rough times, but after Dylan died, her depression amplified by a thousand. Her doctors also diagnosed her with agoraphobia and separation anxiety. It all makes sense, but it’s so hard to see her this way.
But she’s all I have. My only family. And yea, she’s not exactly the mom I grew up with, but she’s still my mom.
I can’t lose her, too.
“Everything ok?” They’re the same words Ty uttered earlier, but this time, they’re coming from Ian’s lips as he stands in the doorway.
“Yea,” I sigh, “my mom had a little scare with her new meds. She passed out, so the hospital is keeping her overnight.”
“But she’s ok?”
“Yea, she will be, at least. And Sam is there to help.”
“Sam is--”
I laugh. “Sam is...complicated. Sam was my brother’s swim coach. After Dylan graduated, they became friends, and, well, he was just always around. I’m pretty sure he has a hardcore crush on my mom, but she denies it. Anyway, he’s good people, so he’s sticking close to make sure she’s ok.”
“And what about you? You doing okay, Phoebe?”
“Me? I’m fine.” The lie has become my automatic response. “But I do need to get to work.” I gather my things and head out to the front of the store, just as Ian says, “Hold up.”
“Yea?” I turn.
He hands me another iced caramel macchiato. “Figured you could use it.”
“Thanks.”
“And, Phoebe, be careful, ok? That bunch of hot broody boys living on the hill? Nothing but trouble, love. Trouble I’d fucking bathe in, but...look, just be careful, ok?”
“Ian, it’s cool. He’s just my tutor. So you can stop giving him the side-eye, ok?”
“Noticed that, did you? It was pretty fierce, right?” He pushes his thick black framed glasses up his nose.
It was about as fierce as a scowl coming from a baby kitten, but I refrain from sharing. “Off the charts fierce. He’s probably still shaking in his shoes,” I say.
Ian smiles. “Thanks for lying, Phoebe. Now get to work. And don’t speed. And text me when you get there.”
