Page 43 of The Scientist
I sighed. I was glad she was feeling so lighthearted about the whole thing, but I was feeling more anxious than ever, not that I wanted her to know that.
“I can’t wait to show you Agnes,” I said. “She has a lot of character.”
“If she’s anything like her namesake, I’m sure we’ll get along splendidly.” Agnes was the name of her eldest sister, who passed away a few years ago, but they were always extremely close.
“I’ll be there first thing in the morning, okay?”
“For what?” she teased.
“Good one,” I said, eye roll implied. “See you tomorrow. Love you, Mom.”
“Love you too, baby girl.”
I tossed and turned all night, unable to get even a few minutes of sleep. Statistics, survival rate numbers, and every other daunting fact about my mom’s prognosis were on a continuous reel running through my mind. The 65% five-year survival rate was the number that seemed to stick out the most. Was she destined to be a part of the other 35%? I pushed the thought away before I worked myself up into a full-blown panic attack. I decided I might as well get out of bed since sleep eluded me.
I looked at the clock to see I had plenty of time to get coffee and breakfast before heading to my mom’s. I walked outside to find it was still pretty dark out, the sunlight barely peeking out over the horizon. I crossed the street and saw a figure in the distance jogging toward me, and I thought I recognized the silhouette.
It seemed pretty early to be out, but I guess I wasn’t one to talk. As the figure came closer, there was no mistaking who it was. I waved at Lex when I thought he spotted me, but he crossed the street and continued up a different path. I guess he didn’t see me, or the more insulting but also more likely scenario was that he did see me and ignored me anyway. I didn’t have the energy to decipher Strovinski’s behavior today, so I moved on without giving it another thought.
Chapter 11
Pulling into my mom’s driveway, I made a mental note to call a landscape company to take care of her yard when I saw how long her grass had gotten. She would never admit to me that her illness was making her more tired, but I could hear in her voice some days how drained she sounded. I had a spare key so I let myself in, carrying the coffee in the crook of my arm and the bagels in the other.
“Mom?” I called out for her. “I’m here.”
“Hi sweetheart,” she said, rounding the corner of the hallway.
“What did you bring?” she asked, noticing my hands full.
“I stopped at that little café on the corner. They had a great selection. I got you some coffee and bagels.”
“I’ll have to check it out. Thank you.”
“No problem. Let’s eat and head out. I don’t want to be late,” I said, buzzing with nervous energy.
“We have plenty of time,” she said. “Sit down and talk to me for a few minutes and let me enjoy my breakfast.”
I checked my watch and decided we did have a few minutes to spare.
“How are you settling in to the new house?” I swirled my coffee around anxiously.
“It’s been great. I have the friendliest neighbors. There’s a gentleman a few houses down from me. His name’s Carl Howser. He’s been helping me get some things put up around the house. He hung those pictures on the wall over there and even got the TV mounted in the bedroom. He used to be a history professor at Stanford, but he’s retired now. I told him all about you and how you had just gotten a job there. He’s a widower too.”
“Oh yeah? What’s this Carl look like, Mom?” I wiggled my eyebrows at her.
“Oh, stop that,” she said. “He was just being neighborly.”
I couldn’t help but notice the similarities between this conversation and the one I’d had yesterday with Lionel and Sarah. My mom and I each having the same response—denying these men had any interest in us.
“Well, what’s so wrong with that anyway? I don’t think I remember ever seeing you go on a single date after Daddy died.”
“I went on dates. Just nothing that ever stuck, that’s why you never knew anything about it. Besides, Daddy was the love of my life. It doesn’t feel right to even try when you’ve experienced a love that big.”
“You still miss him?” I asked.
“Every day,” she said solemnly while sipping her coffee.
“Me, too,” I admitted. “I’ve been thinking about him a lot lately.”