There Was an Old Woman

Chapter Fifteen


Going home from the hospital, Evie rode by herself in the back of the bus. She rubbed her wrist, trying to erase the sensation that she was still in her mother’s grip. She pushed up her sleeve, sure there’d be a mark, but there wasn’t. In the end, the damage her mother wrought was invisible.

She took out her phone. She’d promised to call Ginger.

“Evie?” Ginger said, picking up on the first ring.

“You were right. This time it’s different.”

“I know. So?”

“So.” Evie could see her mother’s face, all hope and innocence when she’d woken up after her seizure. “One minute she’s talking to me, normal, you know? The next minute she’s bat-shit crazy. Saying the meanest things.”

“Oh, Evie. Surely you know by now that you shouldn’t get upset by anything that she says. The doctors have her all doped up on loads of medication.”

“It was more than being doped up. She’s screaming at me. Telling me to stop trying to tell her what to do with her life. Then she shudders and goes blank. She’s not there. And she’s not there. And I’m starting to panic because she’s still not there. And then, just like that, she’s awake again. And she recognizes me. But”—Evie swallowed the lump in her throat—“she thinks I just showed up. It was like something out of Groundhog Day.”

“Oh, Evie,” Ginger said.

“Did you notice her belly?” Evie asked.

“I know, it’s awful. The nurse calls it ascites. It’s a symptom of late-stage liver disease.”

“Late stage? What does that mean?”

“Didn’t you talk to Dr. Foran?”

“Didn’t I—?” Evie stopped herself from biting back. Ginger never meant her Didn’t-yous to come out in the know-it-all, passive-aggressive way that they did. “There were no doctors around, and until this minute I didn’t even know her doctor’s name.”

“I’ll text you the phone number.”

“Thank you.”

“So what’s your plan?” Ginger asked.

“My plan?”

“Tonight? Tomorrow?”

Evie had assumed she’d sleep at the house, but she hadn’t bargained for the mess, not to mention the smell. But what was the alternative? It would take an hour and a half to get home to Brooklyn and another hour and a half back tomorrow morning.

“I’ll probably stay there tonight,” Evie said.

“You’ll be okay?”

“I’ll be fine. If not, I’ll go home.”

“See what you can figure out about her finances,” Ginger said. “If there are unpaid bills lying around. Maybe you can find a current bank statement?”

Evie yawned. The day was catching up with her. “I asked her about money.”

“And?”

“She says there’s plenty.”

“Really? Well, la-di-da.”

“It’s a good thing, too, because between fixing the house so she can live in it and getting her some help when they send her back home, it’s going to be expensive.” The bus was getting near her stop. Evie stood and walked to the front.

“Hey, I thought you had a date with Seth tonight,” Ginger said.

Evie held on to the grab bar overhead as the bus slowed and pulled to the curb. “I told him I couldn’t make it. Family emergency. He’s going to the basketball game.”

A pause. Then, “Oh.” Ginger’s oh was filled with understanding and tinged with regret, and Evie hated that one stinking syllable. Ginger was like a heat-seeking missile when it came to piercing Evie’s confidence and poking at her vulnerabilities.

Ginger quickly filled the silence with “Don’t worry. You’ll—”

“Worry?” Evie got off the bus. “I’m not worried.” She took a breath and coughed bus exhaust. “It’s really no big deal, and he’s not the one. He was never the one. Got to go.” She disconnected the call before Ginger could start in with her favorite platitudes.