Page 62 of Unlikely to Stay
“I’m in the bathroom, Mom,” she called, stepping into the steaming water, and letting out a contented sigh.It feltsogood.“Come back later.”
“I’mnotcoming back later,” her mom said, throwing open CC’s bathroom door.Her mom stood in the doorway, a frown on her face and her arms crossed in front of her body.“I’m your mother.It’s my right to be here.”
“I’m also a grown ass woman, Mom.This is alsomyapartment.You can’t just come traipsing in her any time you want.”
Her mom rolled her eyes.“Oh, please.Don’t give me that.I know why you don’t want me in here.”
“Because I’ve been working all day and am trying to enjoy a relaxing bath?”CC asked, turning the water off and sinking down even lower in the bubbles until only her head and bandaged finger were showing.Even though her mother birthed her, she didn’t want her mom to have full view of CC in her birthday suit.It was weird.
Her mom had no problem with nudity.CC quit letting her friends spend the night in their house when, in fifth grade, Breckin had gone into the kitchen in the middle of the night to get a drink of water to find CC’s mom eating an orange over the kitchen sink…completely naked.CC remembered telling her to move to a nudist colony.Her mom had said it was her body and her home so she could do what she wanted.From that moment on, all her sleepovers were at Annie’s farm or Breckin’s dad’s house.
“No.You don’t want me here because you know I’ll grill you about the fact that hottie nurse was helping you in that vacant building you want to turn into a gym.Never mind the fact I told you it should be a meditation studio.You didn’t even takethatinto consideration.Instead, you decided to put in machines designed to make women skinnier and men buffer in order to impress the opposite sex.Nothing to improve their inner chi.”
CC rolled her eyes.Leave it Candice Chandler to play the concerned parent card when she didn’t get her way.Her mom knew everyone in Parker had no interest in improving their inner chi.They wanted a place to get healthy.But it was no surprise her mom tried to make her feel guilty about CC not doing whatshesuggested.And how in the hell did her mother know Brant was helping her, anyway?
“So what?He offered to help me.I need the help.Why should you care?”
“Because I said I would help you and you told me no.”
CC told her mom no because she knew they would argue about stupid things more than they would work.She loved her mom, she really did.She could just only handle her in doses.She had taken care of her mom too much as a kid.She needed her space now.
“It wasn’t like Iaskedhim to help, Mom.He saw me lugging things into the gym and didn’t really take no for an answer.What was I supposed to do?”
“Tell him no because you wouldn’t even let your own mother help you!”
CC didn’t answer.Instead, she ducked her entire head under the water.Maybe, if she held her breath long enough, her mom would be gone when she came up for air.CC held her breath as long as she could before popping up.Damn it.Her mother was still looming overhead.
“Mom, can you just let me be?This one time?Please?”
“What is that supposed to mean?”
CC had never told her mom the way she felt, but maybe it was time.She was tired of living like she and her mother had a normal mother daughter relationship when it was anything but.
“It means growing up I was usually the one caring for you.I was the one who paid the bills, who blew out the incense and the candles.I was the adult.I had to follow you from stupid trip to stupid trip so you wouldn’t do something…well, stupid.
“Did you know one of the men at that hostel you liked to visit in the desert had me cornered one night while you were getting high with your friend, Gaston, or whatever the hell his name was?If it wasn’t for the old man who reminded me of Willie Nelson pulling a knife on the creep and telling him to leave, there’s no telling what would have happened to me.”
Her mom’s eyes widened in shock.“How was I supposed to know that happened?”
“There’s no way you could’ve.You were so caught up in the free love and drugs of your old life that you didn’t stop to think about your teenage daughter.”
“If you had such a horrible time, if you felt it was so dangerous, then why did you go with me?”
“Because I was terrified you were going to end up like Angie!”CC yelled.“Yet again, I had to be the adult.”
Her mom didn’t say anything.
“So stop playing concerned mom and let me live my life.Did I ask Brant to help me work on the gym?No.Did I accept his offer of help?Yes.Would I have asked for your help even if he hadn’t offered?Probably not.We don’t work that way.I take care ofyou, to keepyoufrom making stupid decisions.I’ve done it since Dad left and I’ll probably always do it.And if that means I don’t share things with you like a normal daughter does, then so be it.”
“I can’t believe you, Colleen Janis,” her mom said indignantly.“Those are horrible things to say.”
“Well, Mom, they’re true.”
“Consider your job to be over then.I’m a grown woman.You’re a grown woman.We obviously can take care of ourselves so…just take care of yourself and don’t worry about me.”
At her words, CC’s mom turned on her heel and walked off.A few seconds later, CC heard her door slam.Her pleasant, relaxing day flew out the window, leaving nothing but a hard knot of frustration in the pit of her stomach.Sometimes being honest sucked ass.
“Good morning, Patty.”Brant walked into the backdoor of the clinic, whistling a tune.Even though his arms were aching from holding a paintbrush the previous day, he couldn’t seem to stop smiling.When he’d gotten home after leaving Colleen’s gym, he’d taken a shower to wash all the paint off him before getting in bed and watching an episode ofStranger Things.Sleep had come easy to him.In fact, ever since he had begun spending time with Colleen, he had been getting the best sleep of his life.