She picked up on the second ring. “My Ady baby.” She sighed into the phone.
My smile was instantaneous. “Hey, Mom.”
“Whatchya doing? How are things? What’s new?” My mom’s rapid-fire questions were so perfectly her, I relaxed, despite the fact that she didn’t leave me any time to answer.
“Things are good.”
She clicked her tongue. “You miss Adleigh?”
How did she know? How could all these miles and states separate us, yet she knew exactly how I felt? Moms were something else. “It’s so quiet without her,” I admitted. “It’s not that she was always home when I was or anything, but her stuff was noisy or something. Or like, added a presence that’s absent now.”
“That’s how I felt when I moved here,” she said in a gentle tone that felt as good as a hug from her. “Suddenly, it was only my stuff in the house, and you girls were nowhere to be found. It was like losing you both at once, even though I didn’t, not really. Still, I miss your shoes by the door. And your laundry all over the bathroom. I miss your mess. Even all these years later.”
I took a deep breath, inhaling her empathy. “Yeah, exactly.”
“You get used to it. It’s stupid, and I hate it, but it becomes normal after a while.”
“I’m happy for her, though,” I added quickly, lest she think I didn’t support my sister in every way.
Her voice sounded sadder when she said, “Me too.”
Jane Kelly wasn’t a believer in true love. She preferred couples willing to do the work and choose happiness. Give her two rational-thinking humans with strong values and loyalty over star-crossed lovers any day. It wasn’t that she didn’t like Shane. Or didn’t think Shane and Adleigh made a solid couple. She just couldn’t help but proceed with caution.
My mom would choose Adleigh and her happiness over her happily ever after every day of the week. She wasn’t necessarily wrong... she was just shaped by her experience.
“They’re good together, Mom,” I assured her. “Shane adores her.”
“Good.” Then she laughed, pulling her good nature around her like a cozy blanket. “He better.”
There was a few silent moments when I tried to work up the courage to bring Chris into the conversation. Even after all these years, Mom still flinched anytime Adleigh or I used the D word—Dad.
She’d moved on. She’d found happiness. She was currently living her best beach life. But just the mere mention of a male parent sent her spiraling back to that awful time. The betrayal of his departure cut her fresh every single time.
“You didn’t call to talk about your sister, though, did you?”Mom-tuition strikes again.
She was sad again. Melancholy. And honestly, so was I.
“Chris is back in town, apparently.”
She let out a long breath that whooshed through the phone. “Adleigh told me.”
“She convinced me to text him. He wants to get coffee this Sunday.”
She only paused for a second. “What do you want to do, Ade?”
“Stand him up.” She laughed. “Maybe wait till he’s settled at the table, has his perfect coffee order, apologizes for being an asshole, then leave right in the middle of his speech.”
“You’re ferocious, Ady baby. I love that about you.”
Tears pricked my eyes. I had wondered about Mom’s feelings since Adleigh told me Chris had reached out to her. I’d wondered if she felt betrayed, heartbroken, abandoned. It felt good to stand up for her. She needed it as much as I did.
“Seriously, though, what do I do?”
She made that tsking sound again. It was one hundred percent a mom noise, and somehow could make me feel loved and cared for and like I should brace myself for bad news. “If you don’t go, will you always wonder if you should have?”
“Oh, I see,” I said, laughing. “Using the whole ‘don’t build your life on regrets’ argument. Classic Jane.”
She laughed too, and it was the sweetest, purest sound ever. “I’m serious, darling girl. A moment in your childhood is frozen in time because of his choice. A door trauma has locked tight. Do you think you might like to walk through it and see what’s on the other side?”
