Page 20 of Sounds Like Love

I wanted to bury myself out back and be done with it. “What the hell arekneeckles?”

“I have no idea!” she replied with a laugh and pulled out her phone. “But it was funny as hell. I even took avideo…”

I moaned, “You didnot.”

“See! Right here.” And there, on her phone, was indeed a video of a scene in my life I barely recalled. But now I knew why I had bruises on my knees, at least. “Ooh, ooh, watch when you get to the top!”

Drunk, bad-decision me got to the top, rose to her feet, and did the Rocky Balboa pose. “YO, ADRIAAAAAAN!” video me shouted, and I decided at that moment that I’d never drink Maker’s Mark again, and that if I could go back in time, I’d shove myself into the trunk of my parents’ old Subaru, take myself out to the state park where the wild horses roamed, and dump my body in the dunes for the crabs to eat.

Mom giggled, kicking her feet like a schoolgirl. When she laughed, she scrunched her nose. I wondered if I did, too. “I’m going to keep this forever.”

“Just don’t share it on Facebook,” I replied, taking a sip of coffee. Oh yeah, it was definitely a hoof to the face kind of cup. Mom always made it so strong,even sugar couldn’t save it. It was the only way I liked it.

Mom was suspiciously quiet.

I slid a glare to her.

She smiled. “It has over a hundred views already! Look what your cousin Sami said—‘real winners quit’—I don’t know what that means but I think it’s supportive!”

“Mom.”

“And see? There’s Todd—you know Todd, the barista at Cool Beans?—saying that you’ve earned a cup of nitro on him! What’s nitro?”

“Hipster coffee that makes you go zoom.”

She shook her head. “That’s what we used to call speed.”

“Mom!”

“I’m joking! Sorta. Your grandmother popped them like Tic Tacs.”

“Mom!”

“She did! It was the sixties,” she added with a laugh. “We joke about it because otherwise it’s so awful I can barely stand it. Now,Ami’s mom was addicted to Valium …” She trailed off. Her smile faltered a little.

I tilted my head. “Ami?” I’d never heard her mention an Ami before—was she a new friend from her poker games?

“Oh, did I say Ami? I meant Cheryl.” I followed her lead, letting her brush off the slip. She did that often, confusing one word or name or place for another. “Anyway, it seems like everyone’s really excited to have you back, and I heard from a little birdie that a littlesomeone elseis back in town …” She wiggled her eyebrow. And just like that, she shifted the subject. Mom scooted over an inch and whispered conspiratorially, “I’m talking about Van.”

“Mmh,” I replied, sipping my coffee. “Gigi told me he was here helping his parents move?”

“Sad to say, I think they’re movingawayaway—like the Ashtons.” Mom sighed. “All the good neighbors are leaving and being replaced by those Airbnbs. It’s awful. You know, Mitch and Gigi can’t even afford a house in this area because it’s so damn expensive these days. I feel like I’m forgetting something,” she added with a note of frustration.

I drank some more of my coffee. Ialsofelt like I was forgetting something from last night. Something important—besides the Revelry closing.

But I couldn’t for the life of me remember what it was.

She pushed herself up from the table and crossed the kitchen to refill her coffee. She glanced at the refrigerator and the flurry of notes there, set her cup on the counter, and then did a double take. “Oh! That’s right,” she said, plucking a sticky note from the multitudes and bringing it back over to me.Tell J about G coffee—10am!!the note read in her long, loopy handwriting. “Gigi came by this morning while you were still asleep and asked me to remind you about coffee today. ThankgodI remembered. That was going to bug me.”

“Did she say where?” I asked, flipping the sticky note over. “Cool Beans?”

Mom nodded and went to fetch her cup she’d abandoned on the counter and refill it while she was there. With her back turned she said, “I know we sprang the news on all of you last night.”

I almost choked on my coffee.

Was Mom really—was she going to talk about itunprompted?

“We just didn’t know how else to do it,” she went on. “I know that place is home to you and Mitch. But thank you for being so understanding that it’s time.It makes all this easier. Your dad and I raised two pretty amazing kids, I think.”

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