“That’s why you were stuck so deep in depression.”
“Guilt,” she corrects me.
“We’ve both been blaming ourselves for this since the accident.” I drop my chin to my chest in disbelief before looking my mother in the eyes. “Mom. I’m going to tell you the same thing Bodie told me. Dad made the choice to take off his seatbelt. Whether either of us upset him or not, he made that decision. Instead of pulling over, he was at a traffic light and didn’t put the car in park. I get he was flustered, but he made that decision, and we can’t spend the rest of our lives beating ourselves up for it.”
I move to my mother’s side of the table and take her in my arms. “I wish we would’ve talked about this sooner. Promise me no more secrets, and I’ll do the same,” I say softly as she nods vehemently into my shoulder.
We sit quietly for a few minutes while I comfort my mother in ways I couldn’t as a child. When she sounds ready, I break the mood with, “Okay, enough going down horrible memory lane. Can you tell me what I’m supposed to do about Bodie, please?” My question comes out as a whine, causing my mother to burst into laughter.
“You whine like that to him? I’d leave your ass too.”
“Mom, did you just swear? Where’s the swear jar? You owe me money.” I succeed in throwing her into another fit of laughter.
“How about this? I’ll pay you for swearing when you move to Raleigh with Bodie.”
“Mom—”
“No buts. Just do it, or you’ll never forgive yourself.”
I’d argue with her, but she’s right, and she knows it. She stands with a smile on her face to go make lunch for us.
“Hey.” She turns to me, and I cross the kitchen to her, wrapping my arms around her one more time. “Thank you.” She pats my back and marks my cheek with the lip gloss she loves to wear before ordering me around the kitchen to help with lunch.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Bodie
Things have been weird with us the past couple weeks . Bryce has been a little distant. He told me he went to see his mother, and they talked about his father’s accident. He was relieved to finally get all of it off his chest, and apparently so was Diane, but there still seems to be something throwing us off. I know it’s probably us living apart that’s weighing so heavily on his mind, but we’ve worked out a plan to see each other as often as possible. I just hope it’s enough.
Tonight, I’ve made a special dinner for us, hoping that we can spend some quality time together and reconnect.
“Hey.” Bryce rushes through the door, startling me.
“Fuck, Oz. Don’t do that.” I can’t help but laugh at myself for getting startled so easily.
“Sorry, I was just a little excited.” His long strides end with his big arms wrapped around me as he spins us around.
“What’s going on?”
“I’m coming with you.”
“What?” I push him back to meet his gaze. “What do you mean?”
“I’m coming to Raleigh with you. If you want me to, that is.” His forehead wrinkles before I can answer.
“Of course, I do, but how? What about Mom and work?”
“I discussed it with the managers, and they both agreed to switch me to the Raleigh location for three days a week as a trial. I’ll still come back to work here on Mondays and Wednesdays during the weeks you’re out of town. If I work Thursday through Saturday in Raleigh, it works out perfectly for me to stay a few days with Mom and Calisse.”
“How did you convince them to do this?”
“It didn’t take much convincing.” Bryce shrugs. “They were down two bartenders in Raleigh. Calisse knew already after talking to them earlier last week. It was all her idea.”
“Remind me to buy her a really nice Christmas gift.”
“The only caveat is I have to stay until they find a viable replacement and train them if needed.”
“How long will that take?”
