Page 67 of 12 Months of Mayhem

Working overnight alone was not ideal, but I had done it before.

So had Diamond.

I was a big girl and would be fine by myself for a couple of nights.

I grabbed an oversized hoodie from the chair beside my bed and pulled it on. I moved out of my bedroom and padded down the hallway to Tucker’s room.

My four-year-old son lay curled under his blanket, and his small body barely moved with each breath. One arm was tucked under his cheek, and his soft brown curls were a mess against his pillow. His stuffed dinosaur was clutched tightly in his other arm, as it had been since he was old enough to hold it.

I leaned down and brushed his hair away from his forehead before kissing him gently. “Love you,” I whispered.

He stirred slightly but didn’t wake. I smiled and left his door cracked open before I headed downstairs.

In the kitchen, I grabbed an energy drink from the fridge and surveyed if there was anything I wanted to bring along to snack on. I normally didn’t, seeing as the gas station had pretty much any snack you would want.

“Did I hear you talking on the phone?”

I clutched my hand to my chest, startled, and spun around. “Jesus, Mom,” I laughed. “Next time, clear your throat or something.”

She stood in the hallway that connected my side of the duplex to hers with her arms crossed over her chest. Technically, I lived on my own. I had my own address that wasn’t hers, but the only thing that differed between our addresses was an A and a B.

When I found out I was pregnant, it had felt like the world was ending, but Mom had saved me. She scrounged for every penny she could find and managed to put a down payment on this rundown duplex. It had needed a lot of work, but when she signed the papers, it became home.

Over the past few years, we had fixed it up slowly, doing most of the work ourselves. Now, it truly was home.

Her living next door was the only reason I could work the overnight shift. The first thing we had done was knock a hole to connect both sides inside. We still had our own spaces, but it was connected. Tucker could sleep in his own bed, and Mom was just downstairs.

It worked perfectly.

I popped the top on my energy drink and took a long drink before wiping my mouth with the back of my hand. “Diamond is sick.”

Mom frowned.

“Don’t look at me like that, Mom.” I knew exactly what she was thinking—I would think the same if it were Tucker.

“You’re the boss, Maddie. I don’t understand why you have to work by yourself on the night shift while Jack, Bonnie, Taylor, Mac, and Bess get the cushy daytime hours.”

“Because I’m the boss, Mom,” I laughed. “And overnights don’t work for any of them.”

She rolled her eyes. “I think you got that backward. You should be working the cushy shifts since you and Diamond are the ones signing their checks.”

I grabbed my purse off the table and slung it over my shoulder. I stepped over to her and pressed a kiss to her cheek. “Tucker is passed out upstairs.” We had this conversation at least once a week. I wasn’t up for it tonight. “Thank you for keeping an eye on him.” I thanked her every night before I left for work. I was twenty-five, but I still needed my mom. Tucker’s dad had signed away his rights the second he was born, and all I had was my mom and Diamond.

“You don’t need to thank me, Maddie. He’s my grandson.” She smiled softly. “Besides, he’s an angel because he is sleeping ninety percent of the time I watch him.”

“And soon he’ll be in school half of the day, so I can maybe get more than a few minutes of sleep during the day.” I glanced at the clock. “I gotta go. I’ll send you a text halfway through my shift, okay?” I knew she was going to worry.

“How about you send me a text every two hours?” she suggested.

“Are you not planning on sleeping tonight?” I laughed.

“If you don’t text me every two hours, I won’t,” she retorted.

I gave her a mock salute, grabbed my energy drink and my keys off the hook by the door. “Fine. Expect a text every two hours.”

Mom nodded. “If you’re a minute late, I’m calling Lee to do a welfare check.”

I rolled my eyes. “Please do not bother the police if I’m a minute late texting you. Goodbye, Mother,” I drawled.

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