As much as he wished he could turn her away, he knew that he couldn’t. Even if that’s what she deserved.
“Do you want to come in?” he asked as he stepped to the side.
It was strange how one minute ago, he’d felt like everything was right in the world and the next thing he knew, his entire world depended on whatever chaos his mother had brought to his front door, literally.
She stood and stared at him for a moment. “Look at you. So handsome.” She reached up and patted his face but unlike Nonna the pat didn’t make him feel loved and secure, it made him angry. “It’s so unfair. Men just keep getting better looking the older they get, and women just wrinkle and get cellulite.”
His mom was in her fifties but she looked like she was in her thirties. She was thinner than the last time he’d seen her and had a few new scars on her face and neck from scabs she’d picked. But even with those she was still stunningly beautiful. People had always told him that his mom reminded them of Angelina Jolie. She had large eyes and naturally full lips well before full lips were in style.
She walked inside and sat on the couch, making herself at home. “Your father, may he rest in peace, was more handsome the day he died than the day I met him.”
Josh’s entire body tensed at the mention of his dad. He’d always hated the way his mom talked about him, like he was a saint, which in fairness, to her he probably was. He’d always let her come home, no matter how long she’d been gone or what she’d been doing. She’d suddenly appear, out of the blue with no warning. She’d say that she wanted to be a family, apologize for all manner of sins, and he’d forgive her. She’d get cleaned up, and for however long she deemed to stay they’d be a family.
She’d cook, clean, and try to be a normal mom. But then one day, without any warning, Josh would wake up and she’d be gone. Or he’d come home from school, and she’d be gone. Or he’d come home from hanging out with Caleb, and she’d be gone. The running theme was she’d be gone. He never knew how long she’d be there or when or if she’d come back.
When he was young, he used to think it was something he did. So every time she’d show up he’d do everything he could to be on his best behavior. But once he got into his teens, he realized that her behavior had more to do with her mental illness and drug addiction than it did with him. And he’d been angry that his dad enabled her.
One time when Josh was fifteen and his mom showed up, stayed for a month, and then disappeared again, he’d confronted his dad about why he let her vacation in their lives. Why his father hadn’t cut her out of his life. His dad just looked at him and said, “Because I love her.”
His father’s answer had infuriated him at the time, but that was before he knew what unconditional love was. Yes, his dad had enabled his mom, but he’d done it from a pure place. A place of love.
“What are you doing here Mom?” he asked as he shut the door.
“I missed you.”
“What do you want? Money, a place to stay, what?” Josh just wanted her to get to the point. His father might have had the patience of a saint with his mom, but he did not.
“Why do you always think I want something? Can’t I just visit my only son?”
“Mom,” his patience was running thin.
“Okay, fine. I need three thousand dollars and bus fair to Los Angeles.”
She’d never actually just come out and asked for what she wanted this quickly before. And her answer was so specific that his curiosity was piqued. “What’s in Los Angeles and why do you need three thousand dollars?”
“Rehab.” She dug into her purse and pulled out a pamphlet. “Here. Look. It’s legit. And they are holding a bed for me but I have to be there by noon. I know that you don’t owe me anything. I know that you probably hate me. But I don’t have anyone else to ask and I want to do this, this time. For real.”
She’d agreed to go to rehab a few times when he was growing up but it had always been because his dad had pushed for it. To Josh’s knowledge, she’d never been the one to initiate it. “Why? What’s so different about this time?”
“I, um, I overdosed and it was…bad. The doctors said that when I got to the hospital, I was minutes, not hours, away from dying. I was in full cardiac arrest. If I don’t do this, I’m going to die.”
He’d never seen his mom take any responsibility before now, but there was no way he was going to put her on a bus with three grand. She was an addict and he knew that if he did that, she would use before she made it to rehab. So, it looked like he and Thor were going on a road trip.
29
Thirty-six hours. It had been thirty-six hours since she’d left Josh’s house in the early morning and seen a woman letting herself in. And in those thirty-six hours Josh had gone MIA. She’d called and texted, but it went straight to voicemail, which wasn’t alarming in and of itself. Josh’s phone was often dead, or he forgot it at home.
That wasn’t what worried her. What worried her was that he hadn’t opened the shop on Friday or today. Nonna didn’t know where he was and neither did Caleb. Audrey had been so worried the night before that after the rehearsal she’d gone over to make sure that the woman hadn’t murdered him. When she got to the house she saw that his truck wasn’t there and when she knocked on the door, there were no sounds of Thor barking.
There was no way that she was going to ruin her sister’s wedding by making a scene, but she’d been on the verge of tears since she’d gone over to check on him last night.
“Sorry I’m late!” Viv rushed into the room like the hurricane that she was, wearing her bridesmaid dress. Her sister had been at the book event at Read Between the Lines with Dr. Vanessa Cupid. She’d worn the dress to the event because it ended right before the wedding was set to begin. Thankfully, Ava had gone with a simple, knee length, black cocktail dress for the bridesmaids so it’s not like Viv was in bows and chiffon.
Ava, who was seated in a chair next to the window getting her hair and makeup final touches smiled. “No worries.”
Her sister was whatever the opposite of a bridezilla was. All day she’d been the epitome of calm, cool, and collected. She didn’t seem even the slightest bit nervous. Grace and Blake both seemed more on edge than Ava. Blake was just excited about her dad getting remarried, and Grace was a perfectionist so she was always sort of on edge.
After hugging everyone, and declaring Ava the most beautiful bride that ever existed, Viv migrated across the room to Audrey, who was sitting on a couch in the corner reading a book. So far, she’d been able to conceal her own anxiousness by just quietly reading, which was totally in character for her.
“Who died?” Viv asked as she plopped down.
Audrey put on her best casual look. “No one.”
“Then why do you look like—" Her sister stopped mid-sentence and her expression changed. “What did he do?”
Audrey shook her head. “Nothing.”
And that was the problem. He hadn’t even had the decency to tell her that he was going out of town on a mini vacation with the blonde that had shown up at his door.