The Morning After (Grace Rises Book 1) by Raelee May Carpenter & Eve Gold

Author:Raelee May Carpenter & Eve Gold [Carpenter, Raelee May]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Flames & Gold Unlimited
Published: 2021-01-11T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter ten

The round call tone barely sounded before it was replaced by the distinctive pop. Matt’s mother Iris flickered into place on the screen. She had to have been set up and waiting for him with her finger hovered over the button. Mum always was. No matter what they talked about, these twice weekly calls always made it onto the highlights reel of her life.

Here in L.A., it was far past sunset, but back in the place which wasn’t Matt’s home anymore, it was arvo. Tomorrow arvo, to be precise. Sun from the rickety windows filled Iris’s cramped kitchen with light. Milky tea steamed in a chipped heirloom china cup at her elbow. Next to it on the matching saucer perched a half-eaten apple—a fit and modern replacement for the homemade cakes in which she’d indulged throughout Matt’s childhood. Behind her, a few dishes—but not too many—sat on the counter next to the sink. His mum’s flat unit (also not his home anymore) was kept neat enough, but always had a bit of a lived-in air.

Kinda like dear Molly’s even littler place in Lansing.

Then there was her face, always fully delighted to see her son. It hit Matt for the first time (Mental. He seriously should have noticed before) that though they looked nothing alike, in one or two ways Molly probably reminded him of his mother.

Iris said, “Matthew, my son! How are you today, love?”

He shrugged, adjusting his laptop on its cheap pressed-wood TV tray. “Fair to middlin’?” With the bit of question, because Matt knew she wouldn’t be thrilled with any answer less than “lovely and wonderful and perfect.” He wished, like always, he’d changed his mood description at the last second, though his mood was never even as good as he claimed. “And you?”

Sad smile. Iris shook her head. “How is it I always have better days than you do? You’re the successful Hollywood fella.”

What’s the point, after all? The last, Mum left unsaid anymore. What was the point of flying across the world, leaving his mother, never coming home, if it didn’t even make him happy?

Matt shrugged, forced a bright Hollywood smile. They both knew the answer to the question she did ask, and it wasn’t the long, tiring days at the studio about now. It never had been. Matt had always some bit of sad darkness in him, but they didn’t talk about it much anymore.

Not out loud anyway.

His mother, a sweet, sensitive woman, carried the trauma and equivocation of her long-dead (and that even while it was still legal and actual) marriage to Pete Kelly. Otherwise, she was fit and sound. Iris had never been an exactly thin woman, and was less so now. Matt’s mum wasn’t quite overweight; she just had enough padding to make for a comfortable embrace. She had aged some, too. Her work at the library involved more hours on her feet than a lady her age should’ve had to suffer. Her half-devoted son sent enough money every month for her to scale back to part-time work, but she wouldn’t take more from him.

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