When I was done, Mable had another round of carrots and apples ready for them all.
“You’re going to spoil them,” I teased.
“I think they’re allowed to be spoiled on special occasions.”
She still hadn’t smiled.
“You know,” I said as I thought about it. “Maybe you don’t have seasonal depression at all. Maybe you only have parental depression. Maybe all you need to do is distance yourself from them completely, and see if your life gets better.”
Mable turned to me. “You think?”
“I think anything is worth a try. And cutting them completely out after this latest stunt with Brawny…” I jerked my head toward the barn door to get her moving. “It might just be the best thing that ever happened to you.”
Twelve
Getting your period right after a day of crying is so validating. I knew I wasn’t a weak little bitch.
—Mable to Cody
Mable
I woke up cocooned in a blanket, toasty warm, with the arms and legs of what felt like Hercules wrapped around me.
I didn’t automatically pull away, mostly because I felt like I was in heaven.
I’d never felt so safe and protected in my life.
“Are you awake yet?” a sleep-roughened voice asked.
I yawned huge, my head tilting back as I did.
“I guess so,” I murmured and opened my eyes.
It was light out, but you could barely tell due to the blackout curtains that were blocking most of the daylight.
There was enough light for me to see the color of butterscotch, though.
“Hey.” I cleared my throat, hoping to cause some of the sleepiness to clear from my morning voice. Birdee always liked to point out that I sounded like I smoked thirty packs of cigarettes in my sleep. “Um, how did I get here?”
He grunted out a sound that sounded amused. “You don’t remember anything you did or said last night?”
That had my belly dropping.
The only time I got like this was when…
“Did I take some Benadryl last night?”
Shit.
Shit, shit, shit.
This was bad.
Bad, bad, bad.
“What’s the last thing you remember?”
I thought about that answer for a long moment, my eyes on his, and eventually said, “Leaving work.”
