Page 119 of Love Unavoidable
“You should go so I can get some rest. But think about what I said. Remember your place.”
“I will.”
I ease myself off the bed and leave the room, not sure what to think of anything that just happened.
I head to my room needing to process everything Mama has just said.
* * *
After a short nap, I wake up knowing exactly what to do. What the smart and safe decision is where my life is concerned. Maybe there won’t be passion, but I get along with Aaron and he will always do his best to make me happy. I can be okay with that.
And not just because Mama says that’s what I should do, though that’s a large part of it. But because I don’t want to base a relationship on sex. And Ethan and I have a lot of sex, but attraction fades, and then what’s left? And Ethan has never been able to commit to a woman.
At least with Aaron, I know there will still be companionship. I need to call Kat and ask her to go to Ethan’s and box up the rest of my things and send them back. In addition to everything else, being home in Texas for the past couple weeks has shown it was foolish for me to think I could just move to San Soloman without a care in the world. Find a job, get involved with Ethan, and live happily ever after.
I grab my phone and find Kat in my contacts. She answers after the second ring.
“Well, hey there stranger. I was wondering when you’d be back.”
“I’m not back yet,” I say. “I just . . . I need to ask you a favor.”
“Sure, shoot.”
“Can you grab my things from Ethan’s and ship them back to me? I’ll pay you for your time. And, of course, for the shipping fees.”
“That doesn’t sound like someone who will be back soon. Is it your mom? Is she not getting any better?”
“It’s not that. I mean, she’s getting better, but I’m still not coming back.”
“Why? Did something else happen?”
“No. It’s just, it was dumb of me to think I could just move, you know. My family needs me here.”
“But you said your mom is getting better. What’s wrong with her anyway?”
“Oh god, Kat, it’s such a long stupid story.”
“Now I gotta hear it. Hang on, let me get settled in my comfy chair . . . okay, go.”
“It’s so embarrassing.”
“For you? Or for her?”
“Both. One of her girlfriends had a coupon for a plastic surgeon. One of those, buy a procedure at full price, then bring a friend and they get the same procedure for half price. So, they got liposuction and tummy-tucks.”
“No way! They have coupons for that?”
“Yes.” I can hear the sadness in my voice. “Anyway, it didn’t go so well. Mama fell and split her stitches somehow once she got back home and lost a ton of blood. She had to go to the hospital and get a blood transfusion, she was in the ICU, and they kept her there a couple days, that’s when Aaron came and got me. The crisis is over, but she’s still not one hundred percent better. Mama got a staph infection from the hospital. So, she’s still real sick, and bloated to the gills, I have to have someone come in everyday to drain the fluid from her incision.”
“Seroma?”
“Yeah, I think that’s the word they used.”
“That’s common after surgery, but maybe not for this long, I’m not sure. They’re treating the infection, right?”
“Yes. She just seems so weak sometimes though. I just, I don’t know what to do, it makes me feel helpless.”
“What does the doctor say? As far as her prognosis?”
