“Maybe you should sleep at your place tonight. Like I said…”
“You need to be alone. Yeah, I heard you loud and clear,” Brooke cut Drew off. Her words came out more terse and emotional than she would have liked.
“Thanks. I’ll talk to you tomorrow,” Drew offered her a half smile before getting in her car and driving away.
The whole event happened so fast that Brooke found herself staring after the car. She stood in the driveway for several seconds. What the hell had just happened? The night had gone from wonderful to shit in no time at all. Brooke glanced back towards the house where her mom waited on the porch. Brooke took step after painful step until she reached her mom. When she did, Susan wrapped her arms around Brooke and held her tight. This was the same kind of hug her mom had offered to her as a child, when Brooke had skinned her knee, or fallen on the playground. But there was no hug to heal the hurt currently residing in her heart.
Chapter 19
Drew sat all alone in her apartment, with the exception of Pearl. A pang of guilt wrapped around her heart. Had she really told Brooke that she needed space then come home to Brooke’s cat? She should take Pearl over to Brooke’s place. Drew liked the way the cat curled up next to her on the couch. The couch that Brooke had insisted they buy. The reminders of Brooke were all around her. Overwhelming her system.
Had her dad really been dating Brooke’s mom? He’d just casually walked into the room as if he’d been there a hundred times before. Drew presumed he probably had. She wasn’t sure what to think of all that. Drew pulled out her phone and called the person she’d been putting off. Her mom.
“Hello.”
“Hey, mom,” Drew smiled into the phone.
“Drew. Hi, Sweetie. What’s going on?”
Drew swallowed the guilt she felt about her mom realizing she only called when things weren’t going well. She would be better about that in the future, she decided.
“Can I come over?”
“Of course. Come on over for dinner.”
Drew’s stomach growled reminding her that she had fled dinner at Brooke’s mom’s house an hour ago. How was she even going to begin to fix the mess she’d left behind? Brooke had been willing to come with her.
“Thanks, Mom,” Drew said softly.
When they hung up Drew rubbed her knees with her hands. Pearl gave her a withering look.
“Don’t you start with me,” Drew chided. If cats could roll their eyes, she was pretty sure that’s what Pearl would be doing at her right now. She scooped the cat up in her arms and carried her back to Brooke’s apartment. Pearl spared her a momentary glance of confusion before jumping to the couch.
Drew’s mind swirled with the morning and everything she’d just been through. It had been years since her dad had left her and her mom. To have him suddenly reemerge was jarring to say the least. She wondered if she should bring the moment up to her mother or just settle for telling her some vague part of the story. Her mom had never been one to skirt the truth. Telling her felt like the right thing to do. Besides, her mom couldn’t give her the insights she craved if Drew wasn’t willing to be honest.
Drew’s mom, Gail, was waiting for her on the front porch. A lit cigarette hung loosely in her mouth. Smoking was the onevice that her mom had decided to grant herself, though Drew worried about her health. Gail smiled at her and waved Drew up to the porch.
Drew sat in the porch chair beside her mom. Gail offered her a cigarette which Drew waved off. The habit wasn’t one she’d ever been interested in starting. Gail inhaled a long drag on her already well spent cigarette before snuffing the rest out on her porch rail.
“You ready to come in and eat?”
Her mom had always had the kind of classic southern drawl that people found enchanting.
“Yeah, let’s get inside,” Drew smiled.
They changed locations each sitting at a two-person table in what would be the dining area. There was a dinner already plated and waiting for them. The simple gesture reminded Drew of how much effort her mom had tried to put into their relationship.
“Well, what brings you out tonight?” Gail asked. She’d always had a no-nonsense part to her. A way of cutting through the things that didn’t matter. Drew drummed her fingers on the tabletop. She was unsure if she should bring these things up to her mother. When her mind was made up Drew sighed.
“I saw Dad,”
Her mom stilled for half a second. Anyone else might not have noticed, but years of pattern recognition highlighted the slight change in her mom’s posture.
“Where did you see Frank?” Gail asked.
“I went to have dinner with my girlfriend’s mom. I guess she and Frank are dating,” Drew responded.
“How does he look?”
