Page 80 of Tainted

She wanted to complain but was too busy blushing and pretending to be upset. Still, Zara didn’t reply with words, but my phone rang. I would’ve let it go to voicemail if Mom’s name wasn’t on the screen.

“You’re on speakerphone. Don’t say nothing, crazy woman.” My hand cupped Zara’s thigh, waiting for my mother to reply, but I heard something slamming in the distance.

“Where are the damn light bulbs?” She yelled in a tone that I’d hardly heard throughout my life.

“What lightbulbs?” I asked, and Zara’s antennas were tuned into the conversation.

“All that money we spent at that fancy school, and you don’t know what lightbulbs are?” She asked, spacing the words out evenly, and then there was another thud.

“Of course, I know what they are. Do you?” I chuckled, curious about what the hell she was up to. Mom didn’t touch the lightbulbs. Or trashcans. Not even the small ones she placed in every damn bathroom. Pops ensured it, so her random fit was comical to me and me only.

Mom usually would’ve replied in sarcasm, but not today. She was too full of grief.

“Who else is going to do it, Kenyon? Your father always-.” She paused and finally gave context to what this was really about. “It doesn’t matter. He’s not here anymore, but now I can’t find the damn bulbs.”

Zara looked at me sympathetically. We hadn’t spoken about my family, but Mom was still rambling about lightbulbs. It was easier than admitting she missed Pops.

“Calm down. I’m on my way.”

“It’s okay, Kenyon,” Mom conceded because she didn’t want me to worry or rearrange my day for her grief.

“I’m already in the car. I’ll be there in a minute,” I lied, hanging up before she could object.

My girl wasn’t okay, and I wouldn’t be either until I laid eyes on her.

“I gotta head out.”

“Okay,” “I can come with you. I m-mean, if you need me to.”

“I’m good, Babygirl, but I appreciate it.” I winked, trying to lighten the mood for my own sake.

Her offer was sincere, but the thing I needed from her, she couldn’t give in words. I cupped her face and leaned in, pressing my lips to hers. I didn’t even ask, but I needed her. Before falling headfirst into the deep end, she pulled back, wiping her mouth.

“You can call me if you need to,” Zara said with compassion in her eyes.

I kissed the top of her head, and grabbed my keys to drive to Magnolia Lane. Turning into the driveway, I didn’t know what condition I would find Mom in. I wasn’t sure I had the strength to anchor it today, but I had to try.

A heaviness hovered over the house when I entered the foyer like a dark cloud. I walked around the ladder in the middle of the hallway and found Mom hunched over in the living room.

“You’re really showing off now. First the bulbs and now the ladder.”

Somehow, we had traded places at this moment as Mom collapsed in my arms, crying.

“The bulbs in the bathroom went out. I tried to change it, but I couldn’t even find the damn bulbs in my own house! How pathetic is that?”

I forced her neck back and smiled before kissing her forehead.

“There’s nothing pathetic about your husband taking care of you.”

“My husband,” Mom scoffed a little, wiping her tears. “He’s not here now, so what good is that?”

“What am I? Chopped liver?”

A laugh managed to sneak past her tears. “Oh please, Kenyon. You’ve got your own life. What have you been doing today anyway?”

“Working hard now, I’m starving. Did you cook?”

“No, I did not.”

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