“Kaelee? She’s great. English major. Wrote a book. I haven’t read it.” Toni frowned. “Why?”
“She queried me, and she referenced working for you.” Emily paused. “So many people reference you, but this one said she was your TA.”
“She is,” Toni said. “Kaelee’s smart. Driven. A little too much like me, probably, but I know nothing about her book. We’re pulling up at the airport… unless it’s urgent? I can call you back after I get through security.”
“Tomorrow is fine. Fly safely,” Emily said.
By the time Toni got to Dulles, she was ready to call Addie again. She’d hoped that there would be a call or an email or something. Instead, there was only a text message from Kaelee asking if Toni wanted her to cover the noon class.
“Headed to nursing home. Will be into campus by eleven. Should be there to teach unless traffic accident or etc,” Toni replied via text.
Honestly, for all that Toni had protested, she thought Kaelee was great. She was juggling her PhD in English Literature, although her Master of Arts was in History, and was TAing for Toni—all while querying agents. If not for the fact that Kaelee technically worked for her right now, Toni would be glad to call her a friend.
By the time Toni collected her bag and was in her Jeep, she was down to roughly an hour at the memory care center before she had to get to campus. She parked over by the sign for the home, walked in, and signed in.
“Lil’s been in a funk the last few days,” one of the staff caregivers said when she saw Toni.
“Did something happen? Did she fall or—”
“No. She’s been concerned that your father hasn’t called or visited.” The woman gave Toni a sympathetic look. “Grief is so much harder when you have to keep experiencing it as if it’s fresh.”
Toni didn’t want to repeat that it wasn’t his death that was theissue; it was all the horrible things he did in their life together. So she left it at, “I’ll see if I can talk to her.”
“She’s in her room,” the woman said.
Toni always braced herself for seeing her mother, and she was already on edge today. She tapped lightly on the door before going in. As she did, she had to duck. Her mother threw a shoe at her.
“Lil!”
“I thought you were your dad,” Lilian said. It was not an apology. At best, it was a half-hearted explanation.
Toni stepped into the room, taking in the pile of used tissues on the table next to her. Beside that was—
“Why are you drinking coffee?”
“Because I wanted to. I had one of the neighbors smuggle it in.” Lilian looked proud of herself. “The nurse refused, so I went around her.”
“Mom…” Toni leaned down and dutifully kissed her mother’s paper-dry cheek. As she was doing that, she took the cup from her mother’s table. “It’s bad for your heart.”
“So’s your father, but I didn’t dump him down a drain. Maybe I should’ve. I landed in a prison anyhow.” Lilian gestured around the tiny room. “Least we’d have something in common if I ended up in the hoosegow.”
“Thewhat?”
“The joint. The slammer. The pokey.” Lilian grinned at her, a flash of her still pearly white teeth. “Instead, your dad tried to convince everyone he died and stuffed me in the old people jail. Do I look old to you?”
“You’re beautiful, Mom.” Toni smiled. “He’s really gone, though. He died over a year ago, and the house was too much for you.”
“Huh. Gambled it away, did he?” Lilian shook a finger at her. “You can’t lie worth a damn, Toni. Never could. Too much like me.”
Toni was always at a loss when her mother had windows of clarity… or near clarity. In a lot of ways, it was easier when Lil thought she was talking to Aunt Patty.
“Well, sit down. You make my neck hurt having to crane it up at you. Too tall for a woman,” Lil grumbled.
Toni tentatively sat in the chair across from her mother.
“Is he actually dead?” Lil asked after a drawn-out pause. There were tears in her eyes.
“He is.”
