Cooper’s sleepy grunt, along with the crinkle of an empty Doritos bag and several candy wrappers, seemed to suggest she wasn’t interested in food. Fine.
Jewel noticed the Dr Pepper bottle. “Potty break?” she said cheerfully.
Cooper rolled her eyes, then opened a door and slowly emerged. Brushing chip crumbs off her tattered jeans, she tugged her long hair into a messy pony and headed toward the building.
Jewel hurriedly ran her card and got the gas pumping, then followed Cooper inside. She headed straight for the restroom and Jewel, feeling paranoid, tried to appear inconspicuous as she checked under an occupied stall to see her daughter’s scuffed-up Doc Martens.
They both finished at the same time, but no words were exchanged as they locked eyes in the mirror while washing their hands.Don’t rock the boat, Jewel reminded herself when she wanted to tell her daughter to open the door with her foot to avoid touching the germy surface. Then, instead of grabbing a snack like she wanted, she followed Cooper back to the SUV. Setting the gas nozzle in the pump, she was grateful for her half-full water bottle and baggie of trail mix ... and that her parents’ farm was only three more hours. Plus, they were expecting her. Mom was a good cook. Hopefully she’d have something tasty waiting for them.
As she started the ignition, she reminded herself to be grateful she hadn’t lost her daughter. Not yet, anyway. She shot her mom a quick ETA text, along with the warning she was transporting a hostile captive.
That’s what it felt like. As if she were relocating a prisoner. Maybe she should’ve brought along handcuffs and shackles. As she drove toward the freeway entrance, she made a feeble attempt at small talk, but the silent treatment from the back seat wasn’t encouraging, so she put a lid on it.Just get there.At the stoplight before the freeway, she texted her mom again, advising her that movers might arrive first and telling her to have them start unloading in the barn.
She hadn’t kept much more than their beds, several favorite pieces of furniture, and her art, as well as their personal belongings. Yet, she’d been surprised at how it nearly filled thesmall moving van. And although she’d been relieved that Monica had decided to purchase her larger pieces, saying goodbye to her home was harder than expected this morning. Buying and furnishing her condo had made her feel independent and mature, especially after she’d escaped her codependent role in a marriage where she was often treated like a child. The condo was where she was finally able to do some real adulting. Saying goodbye to their home hadn’t been as easy as she tried to make it appear—for Cooper’s sake. And maybe it was wrong to pretend. Maybe she should spill the beans and admit all this to Cooper and initiate some vulnerable conversation. Transparent, honest communication.
“You know, Coop,” she began carefully as she cruised down the center lane. “I’m feeling kinda blue about leaving San Jose too. Took me by surprise to feel that way.”
“Yeah, right.” Her daughter’s tone dripped with sarcasm. “Boohoo for you.”
She bristled but, determined to make a dent in her daughter’s prickly armor, continued. “I’m serious, Coop. Idofeel sad. I worked hard to build us a life down there. It wasn’t easy after your dad and I split. I put a lot of energy into creating something I hoped would be good for both of us.”
“Yeah, sure. Then you just throw it all away? Seemed to come pretty easy to you. Never mind how I feel about it.”
“I’m sorry it’s been so hard on you, but it’ll get better. I promise you, it’ll get better. And eventually, you’re going to understand that my parents really need me right now. They need both of us.”
Cooper made a growling noise, which was followed by dense silence and the hollow sound of tires on the road.
Still, Jewel wasn’t ready to give up. “I hope you’ll come around. In time, I know you will.” She paused to change lanes and pass a semi. “Your grandparents are really looking forward to seeing you. Grandpa’s having a hard time with his illness, and Grandma is in over her head.” Jewel glanced at the rearview mirror to see Cooper hunched over, glued to her phone, headphones in place,totally oblivious. So much for conversation. Not for the first time, Jewel realized that single parenting teenagers was not for the meek of heart. She just hoped that burning her bridges in San Jose and moving back to her childhood home wasn’t about to make it much worse.
5
Honey
Some June days felt like a slice of heaven. And this was one of them. Honey stepped out onto the back porch, just to breathe in the pungent fragrance of moist earth and tender plants sprouting from the ground. A cool breeze with the hint of warmth rippled through new green leaves on the apple trees. Like a much-needed mental health break, Honey tried to soak in as much as she could while she could.
Days like this begged to be spent outdoors. And yet, so much inside work demanded her attention today. It just wasn’t fair. But she’d put off too many tasks last week. Or she’d been distracted too many times. It was hard to remember. But Jewel and Cooper would be here around five and she’d hoped to make a nice dinner for them. Not to mention she still needed to get fresh sheets on those beds upstairs. Never mind her earlier manic imaginings of line-dried sheets scented with lavender, sparkling windows, bouquets of flowers, baskets of fruit, fresh-smelling bathrooms... The kinds of things she used to have prepped for when guests arrived. Back when she was younger and more energetic. Not that they’d had that many guests in recent years. Besides that, Jewel and Cooper were family.
She returned to the laundry room off the porch to put the wet sheets into the dryer. She even tossed in a nature-scented dryersheet, hoping it would make up for real sunshine. To be fair, at the rate she was going, Jewel and Cooper would be lucky if she even got these clean linens upstairs before they arrived. CT had been extra needy today. Almost like he could sense her attention was divided and wanted to push her. Sometimes he reminded her of a small child who got jealous and unreasonably demanding when his mother was too busy.
“Honey?” CT’s voice called out for her as if to prove her point.
She slammed the dryer shut but left the porch’s back door open, securing the screen to keep out any critters. Since losing their beloved Piper last winter, they’d been dogless. As a result, raccoons were getting way too familiar around the farm. Although it was usually after dark when they reared their heads. And last night, they smelled a skunk. Country living at its finest. Their feisty barn cat Whiskers was a good mouser but couldn’t keep the bigger varmints away. She picked up the laundry basket of clean towels and walked through the kitchen, where breakfast dishes were still piled in the sink.
“Honey!” CT called out again, this time with an urgency that suggested real pain. Had he hurt himself again? She’d just bandaged up his knee after he’d landed on it tripping down the rickety porch stairs ... not for the first time either. She was starting to hate those stairs.
“Coming,” she yelled out to CT. “Where are you?”
“Here,” he called back as if that explained everything. She went from room to room, finally locating him in the downstairs bathroom.
“Yes?” She poked her head in through the open door.
With a childlike expression, he held up an empty toilet paper roll. “Where do you keep this?”
She pointed to the basket where she kept toilet paper in plain sight, then seeing it was down to one roll, opened a cabinet door, extracted a package, and refilled the basket with a couple extras. “Here ya go, CT. Right where it always is.” She heard the impatience in her tone as she handed him a full roll and picked up her laundry basket.
“I’m dumb.” CT’s countenance fell. “I forgot.”
“You’re not dumb.” She set down the laundry basket again and, despising her impatience, opened her arms to hug him. As always, he welcomed the hug, holding her close.
