Page 56 of The Tattered Gloves
It made me smile.
I was having a hard time doing that right now with the constant scrutiny I’d been under after returning to school that day.
“It’s kind of a big deal,” Allison responded. “Sam doesn’t usually butt into other people’s business. He kind of keeps to himself.”
“He’d stick up for you,” I argued, giving up on my lunch altogether. I didn’t have much of an appetite today.
“Well, yeah, but that’s because we’ve known each other since we were little. Our mothers practically raised us together until… you know…”
“What?” I asked after her voice drifted off.
“Until she left,” she finally answered.
“Oh.”
“Yeah.”
Uncomfortable silence filled the air between us as I tried to imagine how Sam must have felt to lose a mother. Lots of kids lost a parent, I guessed. But to know she’d left willingly?
“How old was he?” I finally asked.
“Eleven,” she answered. “It was the summer between sixth and seventh grade. Our birthdays are both in July, and we were planning on having a big pool party at the town pool.”
“What happened?” I asked.
“He woke up the morning of the party, and she was just gone. Her clothes, suitcase… everything, gone.”
“Did she leave a note or anything to explain why?”
Allison shook her head. “No, but everyone had their opinions.”
“I’m sure.”
“Ever since, Sam’s dad has been… well, not much of a dad.”
We didn’t talk for a long time after that. Allison munched on a bag of chips, and I thought about a small boy growing up without a mother.
I’d always thought life in the country… in Sugar Tree, was easy. Carefree. Like a long, winding country road. Maybe a few pebbles would get in the way, but nothing you couldn’t steer around with ease.
But life in the city? That was hard. Life in the city was a gritty mess, filled with potholes and dead ends.
At least, that was what I had thought.
I was quickly learning that potholes could spring up just about anywhere.
Even in the country.
Even here.
