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I take a breath, hating that she can see right through me. She was always the only one who could.
“I know what happened in high school made you shrink into yourself, and I don’t blame you. Those years were hard on both of us, and you did what you needed to do to survive, just like I did.”
My tears are pooling in my eyes, and I know if I blink, they’ll fall.
“But you need to let all that anger go, sweetie. You are so beautiful, so talented and one of the most loving people I have ever known in my life. It would be a shame if you hid that away from everyone.”
“Mom, I know you believe in soul mates and fated love, but that just isn’t in the cards for me, and that’s okay. You have to be okay with that.”
She shakes her head and squeezes my hands, her eyes closing once more.
“You deserve to be loved, Kate. That’s all I want for you. To be taken care of once I’m gone.” Her breathing steadies, her hands falling from mine, and I know she’s asleep, so I get up from my chair and kiss her temple.
“Don’t worry, Mom, I can take care of myself.”
The blaring ringtone of my phone startles me awake and I groan, realizing that I fell asleep against the front window and now every limb hurts. I wipe the sleep from my eyes and look at the caller ID, feeling the sense of panic return when I see that it’s my mom’s nurse.
“Hello?” I can’t hide the fear in my voice and the way it crackles with every breath.
“Hello, is this Kate Murray?” she asks and when I confirm, she says the one thing I feared hearing since coming back home. “I’m sorry to call you so late, Kate, but your mother was just rushed to the hospital, and I think you better get over there. Her O2 level dropped significantly and so we thought it best she be transferred to Eastern General.”
I nod my head, sitting stock still as the news washes over me.
This is it.
This could be the last moments I have with my mother.
I end the call once I tell the nurse that I’m on my way, hurrying around my house, trying to find my purse and once I do, I open my front door and make a beeline for my car. Once outside, I realize that I’m still wearing my Harry Potter flannel pajamas, but at this point, changing would only delay me more and I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if I was late because I was too embarrassed to be seen in a matching pajama set.
I open my car door, throw my purse down onto the passenger seat and take out my keys and turn the ignition over. But when all I hear is a click, click, click, the past few weeks start to pile up and the tears spill over.
“Why! Why the hell did you choose today to quit on me! Why now of all days would you not start!” I scream into the empty car, my palms hitting the leather wheel over and over again as if that would make any kind of difference. My head hits the steering wheel as the emotions flood me, numbness taking over as I just sit there and wonder if my stupid fucking car is going to be the reason I don’t get to say goodbye to my mother.
Suddenly, there’s a knock on my window and I jump, peering up at the one person I didn’t want to see tonight. Drew peering through my window looking too sexy for someone who was just getting home from work, and when he motions for me to roll down my window, I take a breath and open my door, getting out.
“Are you wearing Harry Potter pajamas?” he questions, those sinful eyes trailing up and down my body in a way that would cause goose bumps to explode over my entire body if I wasn’t an emotional mess.
“What do you want, Drew?” I mutter, trying to hide the tears that are still streaming down my face.
His eyes widen when he sees the state I’m in and his hands go up as if surrendering.
“I just wanted to make sure you were okay,” he says without a hint of malice, and I tilt my head to the side, wondering what his game is.
“Why do you even care? You hate me, remember?” I admit, hating that hint of a smirk I see at the edges of his lips. “Just like everyone in this town,” I add in a whisper, my eyes closing as my head falls back against my car.
“That’s not true, my sister doesn’t hate you.”
I can’t help the bubble of laughter that crests out of my chest. God, how could I forget he was related to Addison. She was good people.
“I always liked your sister more than you.” I don’t expect the chuckle that comes from his direction, and I really don’t expect my body to react the way it does, heat traveling through and causing my breath to catch.
“Don’t tell Addi that, it will just go to her head.”
I smile at that, the feeling foreign to me.
“What’s going on, Kate?” he asks again, his eyes boring into mine until I finally take a steady breath.
“My mother was taken to the hospital.” His eyes widen as I gesture to my crap heap of a car. “And this piece of junk decided not to work.” That’s not the whole truth, this car is almost brand new, and I paid a good amount of money for it, but I get to call it whatever I want because right now it’s pissing me off.
