Page 9 of One Last Chance

“Hey, sweetpea,” I say as I pass her and poke her shoulder. She snaps her head up for a split moment and frowns, immediately recoiling back into her bubble with a groan.

Sighing, I meet eyes with Mom, who’s putting away some groceries. We both know this is the best greeting I can get from her these days.

“Were you still in bed?” Mother asks with a surprised face.

Gently, I place Mac off my shoulders and onto the island, letting him jump down. “Yes? Don’t you always tell me to take it easy and relax? To work fewer weekends?” She playfully rolls hereyes at me in response and turns back to the fridge. “Thanks for the shop, by the way. You didn’t have to. I could’ve ordered it.”

“It’s fine. We were out. It was on the way.”

“We stopped at Grandpa’s!” Mac shouts from the couch, already fidgeting with the TV remote to turn on his crazy cartoons.

I raise my brows. “Oh. You should’ve told me you wanted to visit Dad. I would’ve gone with you. I haven’t been to see him in a while,” I admit. Guilt crawls across my chest.

“It is not like your father will go anywhere, Rowe. He’ll be there next time you come around, it’s fine,” Mom quips in that weirdly uppity tone I know is her trying to compensate for how much it still hurts her to talk about it. She acts all at peace with his death, but I know her better. He was her partner. Her true love. I step closer and want to caress her back, but she shuts the fridge and turns while clapping her hands together. “So, how was that date?” she prods me with that uncomfortably excited tone that freaks me out. “How did it go, chop chop, tell me everything!”

I wish I knew. I thought it went well, but…maybe it didn’t. Maybe I’m too rusty.

“It was alright, I think,” I mumble under my breath. Putting on the coffeemaker, I run my hand through my hair. “He was great, yeah.”

“Alright…?” Mom says, prolonging each syllable.

I’m not awake enough to get prodded like this right in the morning, so I glare at her tiredly. “We got along well. He’s smart and good-looking. But it was awkward. As awkward as a forced blind date set up by two mothers with too much time on their hands would be,” I clarify bitingly.

Mom groans and softly slaps me over the arm. “So ungrateful! You’ll learn to appreciate me once I’m gone, you know?” she murmurs to herself.

“Idoappreciate you,” I say in a softer tone, and slither into a hug. She resists at first, but eventually embraces me. “We all do, don’t we?” I raise my voice, wishing for a response. Mac gives an enthusiastic, affirmative 'Yaaa!' from the living room, while Mina only grants us a few moments of her temperamental glare.

With a disgruntled grimace, Mom pushes me away, trying to hide a smile. “So, can your poor mother not even hope for a continuation…or are you really done?”

I’m not happy about her ruthless emotional warfare, but I can’t lie. “Iamdone. That was our agreement, but…I’m thinking of texting him back. Unfortunately for you, I can’t control how he responds, so don’t get your hopes up, please.”

Too late.Her blue eyes bulge at me in excitement, and she nearly bounces on the spot. “What would you like for breakfast? I’m already here, so let me make something for you,” she nearly sings her words.

Shaking my head, I hang it down in defeat.This woman…“Whatever you want, Mom.” As I lean against the island, I am nearly floored by shock as I meet Mina’s eyes. She doesn’t look away, though her expression is more like one of a witch trying to curse me, rather than a daughter finally acknowledging her dad. “Hey. What’s up? Are you doing okay?”

I try not to let my desperation show through my voice. I already learned that showing Mina how much I miss her affection won’t do me any good—it only makes her somehow more distant and moody. Like Mother said, all I can do is wait for her to get out of this horrible phase.

“Grandma and Mina had a fight when we went to see Grandpa,” Mac says out of nowhere, barely audible over the loud cartoons.

“Shut up, you stupid snitch!” Mina snaps at him, but he only raises his arm with the middle finger up without even turning away from the TV.

“Hey! Donotsnap at your brother like that,” I scold her, grabbing the console she attempts to turn her attention back to. Mina groans and tries to pull it back, but I quickly slide the headphones off her head and unplug them from the console, pushing it to my side of the island where she can’t reach it. “Thisisn’tacceptable, do you understand?”

She keeps quiet, pouting. To make sure our eyes don’t meet, she turns to the side on the stool and stubbornly stares ahead.

I glance at Mom with a desperate sigh. “What happened?” She’s already preparing something to eat and continues to do so in silence, even though she must feel my eyes boring into the back of her head. “Mac?” I yell out. If none of them will tell me what happened, I have to turn to the only honest person in this damn house.

“Rowland, please, just—”

“Mina was saying mean things about Grandpa. So Grandma gave her abigslap, and then they were talking about Mama and shouting and—”

Before I can even react to the whiplash of his chaotic retelling, Mother snaps. “Enough!” She drops the knife onto the cutting board and clenches the edge of the counter like she needs it to hold herself in place. Mac goes quiet, sinking into the couch and putting the volume of the TV up.

“You slapped Mina?” I push those words through my teeth, showing more anger than I would've liked. Knowing Mother won’t look at me, I turn my attention to Mina, who purses her lips. Her pink cheeks flush and her eyes glisten. “What the hell happ—”

“I’m going to my room,” she blurts sharply, voice trembling, and jumps off the stool. The headphones fall onto the ground as she accidentally drags them down with her—the sound of it mixes with the pounding of my heart inside my head. Mouthopen, I watch Mina run upstairs and blankly stare into space for a few moments after, trying to collect myself.

A tidal wave of desperate frustration rocks my body, so I tighten my fists into a ball and press my lips together, drawing in a deep breath. “What…happened?”

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