Always, in This Nightmare by J.E. Erickson

Author:J.E. Erickson
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: J.E. Erickson
Published: 2023-09-25T20:30:13+00:00

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

“So, who’s this boy you’re dating? Jerry, right?” Wren’s voice sounded sandy and strained. The headaches must be getting worse. Wren looked as if she hadn’t slept in days, so Ella did her best to play the role of thoughtful daughter. Whatever that meant. She just didn’t want to fight.

“Jerome.” Bitterness laced her tongue. “He’s older than me, so not exactly a boy.”

“You’re all children to me, dear.” Wren plucked the four of diamonds Ella just put down, adding it to her hand. “Jerome,” she said. “Sounds like a black name.”

That caught Ella off-guard. Not so much the words as their acerbic tang. Being raised on a farm two hours north of the northernmost suburbs had isolated Wren in more than a few ways, but she’d never once uttered a racist word to Ella in her life. Not even a hint of it slipped past her lips when she visited Ella’s dorm in college.

Maybe she read too much into it. “Yeah, he’s black. He’s also handsome and funny. He dresses nice and takes me dancing. Even likes the same water you do. Grapefruit.” She pointed at the can near Wren’s ash tray.

Wren grimaced through the cigarette smoke. “I thought you were LBGDQ or whatever.”

“It’s LGBTQ, mom. And yes, I am, to the extent that I’ve found other women attractive. It doesn’t mean I don’t find men attractive. Especially ones that have pretty eyes and say nice things to me.” Wren didn’t laugh, which made a sour stone drop in Ella’s stomach.

Wren blinked smoke out of her eyes and played a card.

“You can meld that, mom.” Ella pointed to where Wren could have played her discarded King onto another meld. “You want to take that back?”

Wren made a declining grunt and waved her hand at the cards before going back to her hand. “What’s he do for a living?”

“He’s a nurse. Cardiology. He works at the Heart Center at Regions Hospital in the Cities.”

Of course, Wren wouldn’t have liked that. The disgusted noise she made in her throat sounded rusty and flaky, and her splintered cough worried Ella into silence. “Uh huh. Are you sure he’s not just an orderly who looks pretty in scrubs?”

“I’m sure, mother.” She slammed down a card and scratched at tears being burned out of her eyes by the smoke. “Did you ask me about him just so you can get under my skin? I swear, it’s like every time I come here, you want to start an argument.” A bit of wet eyeliner smeared on her finger. She dabbed at her eyes with a tissue.

“Who’s arguing?” Wren threw up her hands. “I’m just asking questions.”

“See what I mean? You’re arguing about arguing.” Rage boiled against the last of Ella’s resolve. Four sleepless nights after finding Jerome, this conversation, the persistent tickle of hot smoke in her eyes, all the unresolved angst regarding both her mother and father; it all rose to a head, pressing against a dark bubble in her middle. “You know, you probably could’ve been a decent lawyer if you’d gotten off your ass and tried.

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