Page 22 of One Forbidden Moment

Still nothing.

Her chest ached.She blinked hard, trying to keep the tears from spilling, but they came anyway, hot and blurring the world around her."My mom," she said, her voice breaking."She's sick.She doesn't remember things anymore.Some days she doesn't even know who I am."

Moe dropped his hands from the handlebar.

Jillian pressed her forehead against his back, her breath trembling."I used to sit with her every chance I could," she whispered."Even when she didn't know me.I'd talk to her and pretend she was listening.Pretend she was still in there somewhere.Pretend I hadn't already lost her."

Her words spilled out faster, rawer."And now I can't even do that.I can't see her.I can't hold her hand.I can't say goodbye.I can't—" She choked on the rest, her throat closing around the truth."She's slipping away, and I'm stuck here.I'm stuck in this place that doesn't make sense, with people I don't know or like, and I can't get back to her.It might already be too late."

The wind carried her words into the fading light.Moe sat still in front of her, not responding.

She wiped her face with the back of her hand, her breath uneven."You took me from her," she whispered."You took me from the only person I had left.My mom has no one.She could die alone.And I'll never see her again."

Silence settled between them, heavy and suffocating.The sun dipped lower, the sky turning a bruised purple.Jillian stared at the horizon, her chest aching with a pain she had no idea how to treat.

Moe finally turned his head, just enough to see her from the corner of his eye.His expression was unreadable, carved from stone.

"Hold on.We're going home."He started the engine.

She didn't have the strength to argue.Didn't have the strength to do anything except breathe and accept that nothing she said or did would change her circumstances.

Chapter 10

Moe

––––––––

Copper found him behindthe store, leaning against the back wall.Moe couldn't remember the last time he left the store when he was supposed to be working.He'd woken with a deep clawing sensation in his chest, and nothing was helping.

He wasn't in the mood for company.

Copper leaned against the building and watched Moe the way a man watches a storm cloud, waiting to see which direction it'll break.Or if a veil would appear.

"You're changing," Copper finally said.

"I'm fine."