Page 28 of When I Come Back
“Okay, okay, honey. I’ll get dressed and pop over there. You’ll have to give me a little bit though, I was already in bed.”
I know her words aren’t meant to make me feel bad, but they do anyway. I push the feeling aside. “Thank you so much, Barb. I really appreciate it.”
With that, we hang up, and I go back to finishing my make-up. I have a solid five minutes to finish getting ready before Cary will throw me over his shoulder and carry me out to the car. I’m done with one minute to spare. Once we’re in the car, I tell Cary about my mom, he assures me there’s nothing to worry about, and it’s just my nerves for tonight getting to me. He’s probably right, but I need to hear it from her. I need to hear her voice, and I’ll be fine.
When we’re pulling into the restaurant’s parking lot, my phone starts to ring. I look down to see it’s Barbara calling me back and answer immediately.
“Barbara, is everything okay?” The panic in my voice is evident. And there’s a small pause before she answers. It only lasts a couple seconds, but it feels like an eternity.
“Baby… I think you need to come home.” Her voice cuts me like a knife. Tears fill my eyes instantly. My mind is whirring with all the worst case scenarios.
“Wh-What’s wrong? What’s going on?” Cary places his hand on my leg in an attempt to comfort me.
“Well, she didn’t answer the door when I rang the bell, so I grabbed the extra key, you know, the one she hides in that pot in the garden.” I shake my head in a silent answer, willing her to go on. “When I finally got in the door, I found her in the kitchen on the floor. She’s okay right now, but I think she may have broken her ankle. She said she lost her balance and couldn’t catch herself.”
I finally let myself take a breath knowing she’s conscious. My voice still comes out shaky, but it’s better than before. “Okay. Yeah, I’ll get a flight out as soon as possible. Thank you, Barbara. Thank you so much.”
I hear my mom in the background telling Barbara to stop bothering me because it’s Cary’s big night and how she better not be telling me to come home. I smile at that, and the tightening in my chest loosens some.
“I’ve got an ambulance on the way, sweetie. I’ll text you with the details once she’s settled,” she says as she ignores my mom berating her. I thank her again before disconnecting the call. As soon as I’m off the phone with Barbara, I turn to Cary.
“I’ve got to go home. I’m so sorry.”
“Can’t you fly out in the morning? Then I can come with you. There’s just no way I can leave right now. Barbara said it just looked like a broken ankle,” he recites back to me. Clearly he was able to hear everything she said.
“She doesn’t have anyone, Cary. Barbara is in her seventies, I can’t expect her to stay with her. I know you don’t understand because you aren’t close with your mom, but I won’t leave her there alone when she’s hurt,” I shoot back at him, my face heating with my quick anger.
“I’m going to ignore that jab for now. This is such a big night for me, Thea. It’s a big night forus.”
“I know,” I say but only really knowing that it’s a big night for him. I feel like he’s only saying ‘us’ to guilt trip me. “Butshe’s hurt. I need to be there for her. I’m not going to argue with you. I am sorry though, and I’ll make it up to you somehow when I come back.” Before he can respond, I’m already looking up flights from Seattle to Myrtle Beach. The flight will take all night, and with the drive to Indigo Hill, I’ll be lucky if I’m there before noon tomorrow. I find a redeye flight that’s just over seven hours. I don’t waste any time and click the purchase button.
“You’re really doing this?” I don’t understand why he’s so upset. The tone he’s using is pissing me off even more. I look at the clock on the dash to see it’s now six-fifty-seven before meeting his eyes.
“You should get inside. I’ll call an Uber.” I unfasten my seat belt and exit the car. He acts like he might say something else, but I’m already walking away in the opposite direction of the door as I pull up the Uber app.
Present
I shake the memory away and roll my eyes at my mom. “You are not old, stop.”
She laughs but gives me a ‘go on’ motion with her hand, the woman is unrelenting. “Well, as you know, Cary is back in town”
She nods her head as she says, “I do know that.”
Wow, she is not making this easy.
“Right. So… we may have… kind of reconnected in the last week, and I don’t know, I’m just confused now.”
She waits for a moment to see if I’ll elaborate any more, but I don’t. “Do you still have feelings for him? Is that what you’re confused about?” There’s no judgment in her voice.
“It’s been eight years, Mom. I’ve moved on. And we didn’t work before, so there’s no sense in even discussing it.” My leg starts to bounce involuntarily, and my mom’s eyes catch the movement.
“Moved on with whom?” The question catches me off guard, making my eyes shoot up to hers. She doesn’t let me answer though. “You and I both know you aren’t Ripley’s… type. You may have fooled everyone else in this town with that sham, but I know better.”
I don’t know why I’m surprised. Of course my mother knows everything without me telling her. I can’t even fake date my gay best friend without her figuring it out.
She’s right though, we do have everyone else fooled. Ever since we started “dating” no one has tried to set either of us up. They all just accepted us as the perfect couple. We even started calling each other ‘babe’ to spice up the ruse. Now we do it as a joke regardless of who’s around.
I take a deep breath, accepting my defeat. “How long have you known?”
