Page 5 of In You
But this one…something about this one feels special.
At twenty-nine years old, maybe my luck in men is finally turning?
"Okay, I have a dark green dress that will do." Giving him one last smile, I turn to walk to the driver's side and then pause, glancing over my shoulder to lock eyes with him. "Wait, what's your name?"
He smiles and then wets his lips. "Calvin."
I let my eyes flick down his body and then get in the car, pulling off onto the street, leaving him staring off after me. I'mso lost in thought replaying the last half hour of time that it doesn't even occur to me to call my mom to let her know I'm on my way until I'm about five minutes out, when there's no point.
Lost in the beauty of the drive and the tall flowering trees of her neighborhood, I find myself once again fantasizing about renting me and mom a cute house off the coast of Maine next year. I've always wanted to see the sea, and I think this is the year I'm actually going to buckle down and be serious about planning it for us.
Parking in the drive, I get out of the car, hoist her flowers into my arms, and make my way up the short walkway to the front door of her beautiful, three bedroom house.
I try the door handle and frown when I see it's locked. Normally she has the door open already for me, and I can just come on in. It's one of my favorite things about coming to see her, I can walk right in and straight into her arms where everything always feels better with just a little bit of her magic.
"Gosh, momma," I huff, annoyed.
Balancing the flowers on my hip, I pray I don't drop them as I dig in my purse to pull my keys back out and open the door, letting myself in. My eyes flicker around. The home is quiet and lifeless. First thing I notice is the lack of smell.
I sniff, surprised that there's no breakfast cooking.
What?
"Momma, I'm home!" I call, walking through the door. I close it and set my purse and keys on the foyer table. I peek in the kitchen and see the counters and stove spotless, no morning pans from cooking soaking in the sink. Her usual candle isn't even lit on the small marble island. A frown tugs my face once more, wondering if she wants to break tradition and go out this year.
Worry seeps through my pores as I hurriedly make my way up the staircase, clutching the flowers to my chest."Momma, where are you?"I call a bit louder.
My heart sinks with disappointment. Damn, did she forget about today? I didn't even check to see if her car was in the garage. She doesn't even seem like she's here.
Making my way to the end of the hall, I push through her bedroom door and then freeze.
"Momma?"I whisper, my eyes going wide.
She's on the bed staring off to the side, her brown eyes lifeless. Her body stiff and cold.
The flowers slip from my fingers to the floor in an almighty crash of splintering glass and sloshing water, and I hear a scream tear from me unlike never before as I'm presented with the sight of my dead mother. Gone from what the paramedics later tell me is a massive heart attack at just fifty-two years old.
When someone you love dies, you will know what it means to be alone. Empty.
You will never forget.
Sometime later I find myself kneeling in the doorway of my mother's bedroom amongst the mess on the floor, staring off into the distance for who knows how long. I startle when my phone pings with a text, and it finishes pulling me back to the present that is an utter nightmare I can't seem to back away from.
Numb, I snap out of it, digging my phone out of my purse and look at it, intending to call emergency services.
Calvin [10:54am] You almost stopped my heart when I saw you today, gorgeous. Enjoy your day with your mother, and I'll see you tomorrow. I'll wear a dark green tie to match you.
His choice of wording causes me to immediately burst into tears, and am so incoherent that I can barely make the call to tell the police my mother's address. In a pathetic bid to make it easier for them to come get her, I bend to the ground and prick my finger when I go to clean up the glass and flowers. The sight of them littered on the floor reminds me to text Calvin back. It's hard going through the tears in my eyes, but I eventually get the message sent.
Calvin brings me dinner that same night, concerned that by missing my Father's Day tradition with my mother that it will throw me off the deep end. We become inseparable over the days leading up to the funeral, and he's by my side when I bury my mom two weeks later.
He topped her coffin with ten dozen white roses from the very same flower shop we met at, and that night we make love for the very first time.
And by the week after that, I'm moved in with him, ready to tackle a brand new life.
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Hey, You down?
