Page 99 of Love & Other Disasters

“You left a girl back in Nashville.”

She remembered where he’d been. “Something like that. We’d broken up before I moved here.”

“You miss her.”

“I messed up, and it doesn’t matter anymore.”

“Oh hogwash. It still matters. You need to tell her how you feel.”

“I’m telling you she wouldn’t forgive me and doesn’t want to see me.”

“You need to try. I want grandkids.”

“What? The thousand that Ethan gave you not enough?”

“From you. But more important,” she shifted in her chair, “I want you to have a happy and content life. Sitting here with me while I lose my mind isn’t it.”

He gaped. “I’m not leaving you.”

“I know, dear.”

“And you remember the Alzheimer’s?”

“Right now, and I’m making my peace with it.”

“Why didn’t you get the test when the doctor scheduled it?”

“Denial is a powerful thing. And now, since we know my fate, yours is the one still up in the air.”

His breath caught. How could she have gone into denial and not done anything to help herself? He wanted to jump up and scream. His mom not facing the reality hadn’t helped matters at all. In fact, it made everything so much worse.

“You’re spiraling,” she said. “Calm down. It will not do you any good now.”

“I’m fine. Don’t worry about me.”

“And I’m the queen of England,” she replied. “You need someone in your life. And you obviously miss this girl.”

“Yeah, I miss Violet. But, it’s too late.”

“You never know if you don’t try.”

True. She returned to watching television. J.P. didn’t want to let this conversation go. It wasn’t what he wanted to talk about. But, if the conversation stopped, he might lose her again. What if she didn’t return mentally?

“What else do you want to talk about?” he asked, leaning forward.

“You go talk to the girl and tell me what happens. Oh, and tell them to stop giving me mashed potatoes. There’s are gross. How do you mess up potatoes?”

“They’re probably instant,” he said.

“Just because we’re all bat shit crazy doesn’t mean we’ve lost our taste buds.”

“Mom,” he exclaimed, “you’re not bat shit crazy. And since when do you say things like that?”

“Since I wanted to,” she said. “And I say other words, too.”

“All right, I don’t want to know.”

She laughed hard, throwing her head back in a giggle fit that J.P. hadn’t seen in years.

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