One Night: A coming of age YA novel by Cabinian Deanna

Author:Cabinian, Deanna [Cabinian, Deanna]
Language: eng
Format: azw3, epub
Tags: teen friendship books, teen romance novels, novels set in hawaii, road trip books for teens, funny ya novels, coming of age novels, books like paper towns, contemporary ya books
Publisher: Timpi Publishing
Published: 2016-09-05T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter 13

I couldn’t help Johnny with his next show because it fell on the anniversary of Samuel’s death. Since it was the twentieth anniversary, Mom wanted us to spend the whole day and evening together. The plan was to go to the cemetery in the morning and have dinner at the Four Seasons where we’d take advantage of her employee discount.

I called Johnny a few days beforehand to let him know.

“No problem, kid,” he said. “I can haul my own stuff for a night.”

In the morning I offered to drive Mom to the store so she could pick out flowers. She was usually mega anxious on the anniversary of Samuel’s death, spontaneously crying or laughing at weird times. I knew it was always a hard day for her.

We got to the store and headed for the flower arrangements which were near the pharmacy. She wanted something yellow, she said, to make Samuel’s grave look cheerful. We found some yellow tulips and bought some purple ones, too. We also grabbed a bunch of small white flowers to go with them.

“I love you so much, Thompson,” she said. “You know that?”

“I know. Love you too, Mom.”

She kissed me on the cheek and I pretended to grimace.

“Can I ask you something?” I said.

“Ask away. I’m an open book.”

“Okay. So this isn’t me trying to make you sad or anything, but what made you decide to try and have another kid? Weren’t you scared?”

“Oh, we were scared to death,” she said. “I had anxiety during the whole nine months I carried you. It was not a fun time. And the months before that when we were thinking about it were killer.”

Her eyes started to water and I wondered if I should stop. “I’m sorry,” I said. “We can talk about something else.”

“No, it’s okay. I decided to have you because I didn’t want to stop living. Even though I was incredibly sad there were some days I thought, what if? What if it worked out? I knew I couldn’t go on locking myself away in the house and doing nothing. A life where you don’t live isn’t any kind of life. And when I held you in my arms I knew that taking that scary step was worth it. You only get one life, Thompson. I didn’t want to waste mine being sad.”

We paid for the flowers and picked Dad up on our way to the cemetery. He’d dressed up for the occasion. When he wasn’t working he usually wore t-shirts and shorts, but today he wore a light green button-down shirt tucked into black slacks. Mom wore a pink sundress. I wore the same polo shirt I’d worn when Greta, Ronnie, and I had made dinner for them.

Samuel was buried in the Buckingham Palace of cemeteries: the Hills of Honolulu. Though, really, most of the cemeteries in Hawaii were beautiful because of all the surrounding vegetation and, in some cases, the ocean backdrop. Fuchsias and white orchids shrouded the entrance to Samuel’s cemetery and a white arch with draping green vines welcomed visitors in.

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