Rusty (Twisted Devils MC Book 2) by Zahra Girard

Author:Zahra Girard [Girard, Zahra]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2020-01-17T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Fourteen

Avery

“Diane’s in the lounge, Avery,” Margaret says, sitting in her usual place at the front desk of the Casa del Sol Senior Care Center. Kind eyes look at me through glasses with vibrant red frames. “It’s good to see you again. It’s been too long. I’m sure your mom will be thrilled.”

“It’s good to see you too, Margaret,” I say. “How is she doing?”

“She has good days and bad days. Just last week she came out here and sat across from me for nearly half an hour, updating me on the local news and helping me with a crossword. I swear, she was getting more than half the answers before me.”

“What about the other days?”

“Her memory comes and goes. Goes, mostly, but that’s what happens with her condition. The best thing to do is make her as comfortable as we can and to appreciate the good times she has left.”

I nod. I’ve hardly talked to Margaret for this long in years, not since I first checked my mom in here and needed someone to tell me I’d made the right decision. It was one of those times where I needed my dad the most — someone to cut through all the medical crap the doctors were telling me and just put their arms around me and let me know that as long as I was doing my best things would be OK.

“Does she ever talk about me?”

“Sometimes,” Margaret says after a moment’s hesitation. “I’m mostly up here at the front desk, you understand. Some of the other nurses could give you a better answer. Maybe you should talk to them.”

Some of the other nurses are unkind enough that they won’t hesitate to tell me the hard truth: that my own mother doesn’t even remember me most days.

“What kind of day is she having today?”

“Just ten minutes ago they were finishing up their stretching and mobility exercises. Now might be the perfect time to go see her. Exercises usually helps spark memories and clears up a few of the cobwebs, you know. However she is, she still loves you, Avery. Go. See her.”

“Thanks, Margaret,” I say. Still, I hesitate at the desk and peer down the hallway towards the lounge. I’ve been here a million times before, but today it feels like an especially arduous journey.

I’m grateful that Margaret doesn’t say a word while I stand there fidgeting. Instead, she returns to her work and pretends like the reluctance I’m suffering through is the most natural thing in the world.

When I finally make those thirty steps down the hall and cross through that doorway, I feel so small; eyes and faces that I’ve seen and spoke to so many times before stare at me without recognition. To so many people in this carpeted, recliner-stuffed lounge that’s filled with the relentless murmur of competing TV chatter — the local news from one set, and The Price is Right from another — I have no name, no identity, so little presence I might as well not even exist.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.