Page 20 of Nothing to Lose: Lost Trilogy: Part 1
“She waited until I made it home,” he tells me, the tone of his voice changing. He sounds… emotional.
“What are you saying?” I gasp in shock, scared that I am misunderstanding what he’s telling me, but knowing that I am correct in my suspicions.
“Did she…” I can’t say the actual words. I just can’t.
“She did,” dad confirms my fears. “Peacefully. She just… fell asleep.”
“I’ll be there in a few,” I assure him. “I love you, dad.”
“I love you too, baby,” he tells me. Unlike my mother, he’s always made sure to say the words to me a lot. “I’ll send Malone for you. Don’t drive.”
“Okay,” I whisper in response. Malone is my dad’s most trusted man. I know he will get me to the house safely.
We hang up, and I take a moment to regroup. I close my eyes and shed a tear for the woman who gave me life. She made me promise that I wouldn’t cry for her, but I think she would forgive me for this one time.
Tomorrow will be the first morning of my life without my mother.
A new phase is starting.
My mother is dead.
7
Emily
two years later
“Em,”Becca calls out to me just as I am slamming the door shut on my locker at the hospital.
Becca has fast become my best friend in the last couple of years since my mother’s death. We met shortly after that happened, when we both started working at the hospital.
Now, it is two years later, and I think my life is on track. I am signed up for classes to work toward my bachelor’s in nursing, my relationship with Steve is still strong, albeit a little boring and, lately, close to non existing, especially in the bedroom, but he is good to me overall, so what more can I ask for, right?
“Hey, Becca,” I snap out of my reminiscing to greet my friend. We walk out of the locker room area together since we are done with our shifts. Luckily, Becca lives in the same small town of Sunny. We carpool to work and back, and I love it. I’ve never had a close friend like this before.
“Guess what,” she pushes at my shoulder so hard, I take two steps sideways. The girl doesn’t know her own strength, making me laugh with it.
“Lena, the cousin I was talking to online, finally answered!” She is so giddy with excitement, it makes me happy too for some weird reason.
“Yes! That’s great! So what’s the next step then?”
Becca has been on a mission to find more blood family. Both her parents died in a car crash shortly after she turned eighteen, leaving her the sole guardian to her little brother. Neither one of her parents had a large family, so when it became just the two of them, Becca here, like any internet detective, got on Facebook to look for any long lost family members. She finally found this girl out in Texas, and while I am super happy for her, I also find it a little weird.
Then again, I am happy with just my dad. His parents died before I was born, and my mother’s side of the family is dead to me considering everything she told me right before she died herself.
“She wants us to meet, so I’ll go to Texas,” Becca informs me like it’s the most normal thing in the world.
I try really hard not to gawk at her when she says it, but I must be failing, I realize, because she’s now looking at me with apprehension.
“You think it’s a mistake?” she worries her bottom lip.
“Well, no, not exactly a mistake,” I shrug nonchalantly. “But if she wants to meet you, why do you have to go to Texas? Why can’t she come here?”
“Oh, I… I… I…” She is stuttering now, and I feel bad. She has this habit of doing it when she’s nervous.
“Is she nice?” I try to keep her engaged. I’d hate to put crazy ideas in her head. It’s bad enough they live rent free in my head.
“Uh, yeah, she seems to be very nice. She called me last night, we chatted for a while.”
