Page 116 of Love Unavoidable
Chapter 33
Sadie
“Sadie! Sadie, can you bring me some water?”
I hear my mother calling me from her room. I get up with a groan and head to the kitchen to get her some water. I bring it to her and set it on the nightstand.
“Thank you,” she says, her voice weakened suddenly. I can’t tell sometimes just how sick she is. Not based on how she acts, anyway. Aaron wasn’t exaggerating when he came to get me from San Soloman. My mom was sick. Really sick. Aaron had just failed to say how or why.
“Can you bring me some aspirin when you get a chance too?”
I go into the bathroom and get her aspirin, shake out two, and bring them to her. She takes them with a shaky hand and pops them in her mouth. I help bring the glass to her lips and wait for her to take a sip.
“Thank you. Can you please make sure that your father took the chicken out of the freezer for dinner? And that he threw away the broccoli salad that went bad. It’s in the back of the fridge in a blue bowl. He thinks it’s still okay to eat, but we both know it’s not.”
I nod again then set the glass back on the nightstand within reach in case she needs it. She lays back against her pillows with a sigh and puts her hand over her eyes.
“Will you be joining us for dinner or eating in here tonight?” I ask.
“I don’t know how I will feel. I may not eat at all.”
“Okay. Well, just rest and I’ll check on you later.”
She nods weakly and I leave the room, shutting the door softly as I go. It’s been like this since I came home over two weeks ago. Mama in bed, close to death if you ask her, with me answering to her every beck and call.
It was serious, at first. She had lost a lot of blood, the equivalent of a gunshot wound, and was in the ICU. But it was because of a botched tummy tuck, not because she was shot. And while I’m happy to be here for her in her time of need, part of me wonders if I would have come home had I known the reason why she was in the hospital.
* * *
“Sadie!” Mama’s voice echoes down the hallway. I head into her room to see what she needs.
“Yes, Mama?”
“Is someone here?”
“No, why?”
“I thought I heard voices.”
“No. No one is here.” I sigh.
“I thought maybe Aaron came by.”
“No, Mama.”
“When do you plan to see him again?”
“I don’t.”
“Why not?”
“Because we aren’t together any longer.”
We’ve been over this!
“Not even as friends?”
“No, Mama, not even as friends. What would be the point?”
