Page 19 of Whiskey Lullaby
After I tied my hair in a messy bun, I grabbed the electric piano from my closet and carted it down the hall. From the hallway, I could hear the theme music toJeopardycoming from Momma’s room. She smiled when I pushed the door open. “Hey, baby.” Her gaze fell to the keyboard and her grin deepened, her eyes glistening withtears.
“I thought you might like some music.” I placed the piano on the dresser and she muted thetelevision.
“I would love to listen to somemusic.”
I flipped the switch and the little red light glowed. “I’ll play your favorite,” I said, placing my fingers over the keys. The soft melody of “What A Wonderful Life” filled the room. I glanced up at the mirror and saw Momma with her eyes closed, her head slowly bobbing along with the tune. After the first line, she quietly sang the words, and my throat tightened on a silentsob.
Growing up, I sat next to Momma at the piano while she played. When I turned six, she started sending me to lessons. She told me she enjoyed listening to me play more than she enjoyed playing herself. She’d sit in formal living room with me while I practiced. She’d listen, providing encouragement when I’d grow frustrated because I couldn’t get a chord. She’d applaud when I finished, and when I got the song down just right, she’d sit and sing the lyrics. The piano was our thing, I guess. I closed my eyes, my fingers still tapping over the keys as I listened to her sing. Even with her voice hoarse, it was still beautiful, but the longer I played and the more she sang, the words hit me.Hard.
I fought the tears pricking my eyes. I fought the sob lodged in my throat, and when the last notes played, I took a deep breath and forced it all down because I couldn’t make her feelguilty.
“Thank you, Hannah,” she whispered. When I turned around, she was wiping tears from herface.
“Please don’t cry, Momma.” I went to the side of the bed and wrapped my arms around her. “Please…”
“I never wanted to leave you and Bo.” She choked back a breath. “Not thissoon.”
“Don’t talk like that.” I pulled back and swept a tendril of her salt and pepper hair from her face. “You aren’t going anywhere.” Guilt plucked at my heart because I was lying to her. There may not have been much I could do about her physical suffering, but Icouldlessen the pain to her soul. “If you get on that clinical trial up in Birmingham, you’ll be better in notime.”
A sympathetic smile slowly worked over her lips. “Okay, baby.” And there she was, trying to make me feel better. She rubbed her hand over my cheek. “You better get towork.”
I kissed her forehead. “I love you,Momma.”
“And Lord knows I loveyou.”
I walked out of her room. Out of the house. The second I got inside the solitude of my car, I completely broke down. I cried until I was gasping for air. I cried until my throat burned, and then I cleaned my face up and put the car in drive, because no matter how my world may be crumbling, life wenton.
11
Noah
There it was, five ‘til six and I was speeding down the road trying to make it to Grandma’s in time for dinner. It was just the two of us, but still, she hated when people were late for anything. I slammed on my brakes and turned into herdrive.
It was six on the dot when I pushed open the door and stepped into the small living room, taking a deep breath. I loved the smell of her fried—Where’s the greasysmell?
“Grandma?” I rounded the corner and found her sitting at her card table, reading the Bible. I glanced through the doorway of the kitchen. The counter was covered in flour, but there was nothing simmering on the stovetop. “Grandma...”
She glanced over the rim of her glasses. “Hmm?”
“You uh...” I placed one foot over the threshold to the kitchen. “You want me tocook?”
“I orderedpizza.”
“Pizza?”
“Yes, boy, that’s what I said, pizza. Ain’t that what you kids live off of anyways? Pizza andbeer?”
That woman had never, in her life, ordered food. Never. Not even for my thirteenth birthday when all I wanted was a pizza from Dominos. No, the woman had me in the kitchen helping her roll out enough dough to feed six teenageboys.
She narrowed one eye at me before going back to theBible.
“What’swrong?”
“Nothing’s wrong,” she griped. “I’ve just decided it’s high time I get a lazy streak inme.”
Studying her, I walked to the table and dragged out the chair next to hers. She side-eyed me. Something was off withher.
“What are you looking at me like that for?” shehuffed.
