“Oakley, how are you?”
“I’m doing okay. How are you?”
“I’m well, thank you. I got your text. How is your mum?”
That, I had no idea. She said she was fine, but she was lying. Jasper and I would always be there for her, but she needed Miles, too.
“She doesn’t talk about how she feels, and that can’t be good. I’m worried about her. She tries to be so strong… but who’s taking care of her?”
He sighed down the line. “Sounds like your mum, thinking of everyone else but herself. I would like to… you know, take care of her. Is she there?”
“Not at the minute. She’s at the supermarket because I need all of my favourite foods, apparently. You could try calling her. I think if anyone could help her now, it’s you.”
We’d never spoken about how he felt, so this conversation was getting it all out in the open.
He cleared his throat. “Do you think she would want me to?”
“Um…”
Miles laughed. “Me neither.”
“No, I think she wouldn’t want that or ask, but she needs it, even if she won’t admit it to herself.”
“Can I get your opinion on something?”
“Yeah, sure…”
Miles nervously told me his plan, and my smile grew like the Grinch’s.
“Yes,” I said once he’d finished, pressing my hand to my heart, excited for them both. “I think that’s a great idea.”
“All right.” He cleared his throat again. “Well, you take care of yourself, Oakley.”
“Bye, Miles.” I hung up and put the phone on my lap, unsure how Mum was going to react… but kind of not caring because Iknewshe needed this.
“Everything okay?” Cole asked, handing me a plate.
“Thanks. Yeah, actually, everything’s going to be great.”
“What do you mean?”
“You’ll see,” I replied and took a bite of the sandwich.
Three days after getting out of the hospital, I was feeling pretty good about things. I’d had another phone session with my therapist—something I shouldn’t have stopped doing when I got back to England.
Now, I was sitting in the living room, nervously checking the time tick by on my phone. Miles was due here any minute, and I still wasn’t sure if I had done the right thing. Well, I was, but Mum might not think so.
She put a mug of hot chocolate down in front of me, totally unsuspecting. “Is Cole due to come over?”
“No. Why?”
“You keep looking at that thing,” she said, dipping her chin to my phone.
Oh crap.“Oh. No. Yes, later. I don’t know.”
She frowned at me. I had been texting Cole throughout the day, of course, but he was working an extra hour most days to catch up on all the time he’d missed recently. His holidays were almost gone.
I felt terrible for messing with his job, but he wouldn’t listen to me when I told him to not keep taking time off.
