Page 54 of Off The Ice

“Liam?” Maggie walked out of the bathroom, her brown hair wet from the shower. “What are you doing here?”

“I, uh—” I fumbled for a reasonable excuse.

“Well, he came to visit us, of course! And look, he brought us coffees!”

My mother reached for one of the cups in my hand, looking as if I’d just gifted her with her first grandchild.

“Why would he come visit? I saw him last night,” Maggie said, approaching us with confusion.

“You did?” My mother gasped. “My babies are spending time together,” she cooed, eyes getting teary at the thought. “It’s all I ever wanted!”

Jesus, I felt awkward. And stiff. And filled with an urgency to get out of there.

I craned my neck around, looking for Cassie, but came up short. Maybe she was still sleeping, though I doubted it. She was always up early at my place.

I opened my mouth to ask when my mother’s arms came around me, pulling me toward the couch.

“Sit, sit,” she ordered, pulling us both down.

Maggie took a spot in the armchair across the couch, and my eyes landed on the many boxes filling the living room with my mother’s essence.

Now, sitting beside me, she stared up at me in an expectant way that had me shifting in my seat.

I cleared my throat.

“So, how’s the renovations going?” I asked as my mother creepily smiled at me with wide, imploring eyes.

“Oh,” She sighed, smile fading. “Fine, I suppose. It’s about time, isn’t it? I couldn’t stand to live in a house your father designed for another minute.”

I stiffened. It wasn’t often that we spoke about my father, and to hear her mention him so casually set me more on edge than usual.

“Why not?” Maggie asked. “You have for the last fifteen years.”

“Why not just move?” I asked the question that had been on my mind since I first heard she was redoing the entire house.

“Why would I do that?” She asked. “The house is already paid off.”

“But you’re paying the price of a house to have the entire thing gutted and rebuilt.” I raised a brow.

My mother was never someone I fully understood, partially because she never really let me. She did things on a whim, making huge life choices in the blink of an eye, and I always felt a little unsettled having to ride along on the waves of her emotions.

“It is a big project, Mom.” Maggie sighed. “And a big house to live in by yourself. If I’m being honest, I think downsizing would’ve been a better idea.”

“Oh, if it were up to you two, you’d have me moving into a retirement home.” Mom laughed. “And besides, why shouldn’t I have a nice home to live in? You two will be thanking me for all the space I have when you want to drop off my grandkids for a weekend at grandma’s.”

Her eyes twinkled, and I coughed. Neither Maggie nor I was anywhere close to that stage of life yet, though apparently, my mother hadn’t gotten that memo.

“Anyway,” I said, hands braced on my thighs as I prepared to escape this awkward conversation. “I better get go—”

“I heard from Dad.” Maggie’s voice detonated the carefully constructed peace in the room. “I figured now’s a good time to tell you since we’re all here.”

I sucked in a breath, watching our mother carefully. Her face remained impossibly neutral, though I swore I saw it drop for just a second.

“Oh,” she said, and I wondered how many thoughts were running through her mind at once.

When the man she thought she was going to spend her life with walked out on all of us, she tried to hold it together. For us.But something had changed in her when he left, and it felt like we never really got her back. At least not all the way.

I glared at Maggie, pissed that she’d brought it up in front of Mom when she knew Mom couldn’t handle this conversation right now.

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