“Adelaide, you’re not understanding what I’m trying to say. Your mother isn’t at the hospital. The combination of the two killed her. She’s gone, my dear. I’m sorry.”
“What?” My voice cracked as I began shaking, Gerald’s words not actually seeming real. I looked down at Mia’s phone, confirming that it was him, making sure Mia wasn’t playing some sick joke on me. Mia rubbed my leg, prying the phone out of my hands and saying something to her dad before hanging the phone back up and turning her attention on me. A flurry of emotions hit me all at once; ones that I didn’t know even existed when it came to my mom. Tears escaped the brim of my eyes, rolling down my cheeks into puddles, and I didn’t even bother wiping them away because I knew they would just keep coming.
“Della, did you hear me?” I felt Mia’s hand on my shoulder, shaking me slightly and I snapped my head to the side, not even realizing she had moved up to sit next to me. She put one arm around my shoulder and pulled me closer, stroking my hair. “It’ll be all right.”
I’m really not sure how long we sat like that. I do know that having Mia there helped, though. She saved me from the mental breakdown I would have suffered if I‘d received the news when I was alone. I do know that by the time I finally glanced at the clock, it was too late to head to class. I had already missed one. Plus, that was about the last thing on my mind. It was racing with all sorts of different scenarios of how this could have happened to my mom. Did she do it on purpose? Was it an accident? Why had she lied about moving on from Gerald? Was she ashamed that he was the one that wanted the divorce? My whole body hurt.
“Why don’t you go take a bath? Those always help me feel a little better,” Mia suggested, giving me a weak smile as she wiped a tear away. Through everything, I really never even stopped to think about Mia’s feelings. Sure, her and my mom weren’t very close recently, but my mom had tried to help her in a weird way.
I nodded my head, squeezing her hand before I got up. “That sounds good. Thanks for being here, Mia.” I padded down the hallway toward the bathroom. The rest of the house was eerily quiet, telling me that Callie and Zoey already left for the day, probably before Mia heard the news. If they knew, I’m sure they would’ve been right here with me, but it was somewhat nice just to have Mia there.
I ran a bath and sank down in the water. The warmth and the bath salts I had added helping me relax as much as I could. I closed my eyes, hoping for my brain to stop working for just a few minutes, but it was impossible. All I could think about was my mom, the relationship we had and the one we would never be able to have.
I always hoped that when I got a little older and had a good job, was married, and started having kids, that maybe she would come around. Of course, she would probably never let anyone utter the title of Grandma to her, but I think it may have softened her up a bit. Now, I would never get the chance to find out. I needed to call my dad. And Grams. They all needed to know.
I pressed my fingertips to my eyes, noticing that they were pruney and the water was beginning to turn cold, so who knew how long I had been in here. I began draining the water and stepped out of the tub, wrapping myself in a fluffy white towel before heading back to my bedroom. My feet stopped right at the threshold of my room and I pressed a hand to my chest, trying to slow my heart down that was racing when I realized that wasn’t Mia sitting on my bed, waiting for me.
“Addy.” Chris met me at the door, crushing me against his chest as I stiffly clutched the towel separating us to my body.
“What are you doing here?” I asked, turning my head away from him, though he wasn’t letting go.
“I heard about your mom.” He finally pulled back, gripping my arms as he stared down at me; his blue eyes looked so comforting right at that second. “My dad called. He spoke to Gerald and I needed to come over to make sure you were all right.”
“All right?” I repeated, giggling, but the laughter quickly erupted into sobs. “I’m definitely not all right,” I said, hiccupping as the tears continued to pour and Chris crushed me against him once again. This time, I let myself relax into him, let his comforting arms take away some of the tension that was wracking my whole body. I wasn’t sure when I would actually be all right again.
TODAY WAS THE day I had been looking forward to for a while. Della was moving in with me. After that, it wouldn’t be my stuff anymore. It would be our stuff. It seemed a little surreal but I couldn’t have been happier. I was already on my way over to her house so I could sit on the front porch and wait for her to get home from her last class. That’s how ecstatic I was about our upcoming living arrangements.