Mom adored April. Truly loved and cared for her, and April had felt the same about Mom. When I’d broken it off with April, she’d also lost my parents. Mom had hated any girl she’d seen with me since and made no bones about showing that.
“No, Mom, I broke April’s heart. She doesn’t want to see me,” I said.
“But it’s been so long. Maybe you can repair—”
“Mom, no. I didn’t just break up with April, you know that. There’s no going back,” I interrupted in a firm tone. Better make it clear to Mom now, otherwise she’d get her hopes up.
“April always had a forgiving heart.”
“Until she caught me in bed with her best friend,” I stated badly, and I felt Mom’s flinch.
“That was bad of you, Stone. I don’t understand why you did that.” Even today, Mom’s disappointment hurts.
“You know why, Mom.”
“Only part of it, Stone. There was more to the entire situation than you wanted freedom. That wasn’t my boy speaking then, and that lame excuse won’t wash with me now!” Mom snapped.
“Don’t hold back, Mom.”
“I won’t. Your dad wants to say hi,” Mom said and passed the phone over. That was Mom’s way of saying she needed to regroup.
“Okay, son?”
“Yeah, Dad, same old, same old.”
“How are you feeling about April? I hear you saw her?”
“You haven’t told Mom that, have you?”
Dad chuckled dryly. “You’d know if I had. But how are you coping?
“Unsure right now what I feel. She looked beautiful, Dad, and nursing clearly was her calling. Witnessing April in action was amazing.”
Silence fell over the phone. Dad had guessed more than Mom had, but I’d never confirmed it.
“Was the pain worth it?” Dad asked.
“No. But seeing April fulfilled is.”
“That could have happened with you.”
“No, it couldn’t, Dad. And I don’t want to discuss it,” I said.
“Fair enough. Will you be coming home on Sunday for dinner?”
“Have I ever missed one?”
“Not yet, son. Not yet. See you then.”
Dad hung up just as Mom began shouting that she wasn’t finished. Dad would catch an earful for cutting Mom’s prying short, and was grateful. My parents were crazy in love with one another, but could drive each other up the wall at times.
Mom was excitable, and Dad was placid and calm. He considered his actions while Mom acted on a whim. They were chalk and cheese, yet had a happy marriage. They were the ideal I’d once lived for, a relationship like theirs. For a short time, I thought April and I might have had that until I destroyed that happy future.
Two days later – April
I checked the peaches for bruising before placing them in my cart. Clara was craving peach cobbler, and who was I to say no? Of course, she’d give instructions, while I was her hands and fetcher. Whipped cream was needed, too; you couldn’t have peach cobbler without it. I pushed the cart around the corner and banged into someone.
“Sorry!” I muttered and began to manoeuvre past them.
