DEAN
EIGHT YEARS AGO
The house wasquiet when I woke up.
That was something I’d never get used to. Just a few years ago, I would always hear Mom laughing with Dad in the kitchen as they made breakfast. I never remembered what it was about, but I did remember the joy the house was filled with.
I had never realized how much life Dad had brought to things. Over the last few years that he’d been gone, our default had been reset, and it never stopped feeling out of place.
Most mornings, I could ignore the feeling and walk to the dining room with a smile on my face. This time, I had to sit with it. Thoughts of Dad didn’t always pop up, but the grief counselor Mom took me into town to see had warned both of us that this was normal, that grief wasn’t a constant stream of sadness, rather, a trickle.
Taking a shaky breath, I got out of bed and pushed away the thoughts. This was going to be a good day, and I didn’t need to be mulling on the past when my future was in front of me.
I found Mom eating waffles in the dining room. They were the frozen kind from the store. Neither she nor I could cook, so we’d relied on eating out and processed foods ever since Dadpassed away. My memories of getting served big home-cooked meals on special days were fuzzy, but they were bright ones nonetheless.
“Morning,” she said. “Hungry?”
“A little,” I replied. “Thank you.”
I took the frozen waffles and refused to complain. She gave me a smile before looking back down to her schedule. She used one of those leather-bound planners to make sure she never forgot anything. It was full of notes and things to do.
Mom didn’t know, but I’d snuck a look at it the other day. I needed to make my plans perfect, and I needed her to have a rare day off.
“Can I drive the truck today?” I asked as I sat up straighter. “I wanna take Julie out to dinner.”
I rarely got to use the vehicle Mom and I shared. Being a one-income household meant that we didn’t have the funds for another one. I wanted to get a job to help out with money, but she refused to let me, saying I needed to focus on school and being a kid.
“Sorry, but I can’t let you have it today. I need it for work.”
My eyebrows immediately furrowed. “Isn’t it your day off from cleaning?”
“And how would you know that?”
My eyes flicked to her planner and back up. “No reason.”
“You looked, didn’t you?”
My cheeks heated. “I just needed to know your day off.”
“Things change. And honey, I never have a true day off. Not as a mom.”
I hated it when she said that. She deserved rest.
“Today would have been good day to try. I’ll be at school and busy with Julie. Just stay home.”
She shook her head. “I have a job.”
I scoffed. “What job? Cancelit.”
“The Mullins are moving out so they wanted me to clean their place,” she said. “They paid extra.”
I frowned. She seemed to carry exhaustion around her wherever she went. It didn’t feel right that she did it all while I was only going to school and hanging out at home.
Then what she said hit me. “Wait, the Mullins have been here for years. They’re moving out?”
“They don’t like the new houses across the road from them and I can’t blame them for it. It’s a whole subdivision.”
I rolled my eyes at the mention of the new subdivision. We weren’t the smallest of towns by any means, but ever since people figured out that we were close to Nashville, they seemed determined to move here in droves. They all said it was cheaper, that there were less taxes than the city.