Bishop:It’s my mom’s birthday.
Bishop:You haven’t missed this in years.
Guilt curls low in my chest
Another notification pops up.
Mom:Movie soon? Thinking about you.
The room feels smaller.
Dr. Pembrooke notices immediately. “Nathan?”
I set the phone face down on the armrest.
Her brow furrows gently. “Is everything ok?”
“I’m doing it again,” I say under my breath, rubbing my temples.
“Doing what?”
I let out a slow breath. “Letting people down.”
“Who?”
“My Mom… Bishop…. I haven’t told them I’m coming here,” I admit.
She waits. “And how is your relationship with your mother?” she asks.
I stare at the floor. “Not what it used to be.”
A pause.
“We used to be… closer when I was younger. She was the one constant when everything else was chaos. We had this thing. Traditions. Small ones. Silly ones.”
Heaviness settles over me.
Dr. Pembrooke leans in slightly. “Tell me about it.”
I sit in silence, reaching for another distant memory.
And just like that?—
I’m not in her office anymore.
I didn’t even think about it when I ducked into the florist on Main Street. I just knew Mom had been running herself into the ground lately, long hours at the vet clinic, answering phones, and dealing with cranky pet owners who thought every little thing meant their dog was dying. She always acted like it didn’t get to her, but it did. I saw it in her eyes when she came home.
She deserved something. Something small, but enough to remind her she was more than just tired hands and late nights.
I handed over twenty bucks I should probably have saved for gas and walked out with a bouquet of lilacs, her favorite. Then I texted her: Be ready at seven. Movie night. Don’t argue.
That was our thing, movies. Always had been. Mom raised me on horror films, swore it built character. She took me to see Scream when I was nine years old, and I didn’t sleep in my own bed for three months. Every night, I crawled into hers, convinced Ghostface was hiding in the closet. She teased me, but she never once told me to tough it out.
That was Mom. Tough and soft, all in one.
It was about halfway through the movie when a couple sat in front of us looking like they’d just spent the last hour in the back of a car.
I was reminded of Maddison.
