The Wallflower : A Dark New Adult Romance by J.L. Beck

Author:J.L. Beck [Beck, J.L.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Beck Romance Books LLC
Published: 2024-02-18T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 18

BEL

I'm staring out the foggy glass of my windshield at a crack that runs up the middle from the hood to the top. It cracked this morning when I turned the heat on in the car. It doesn't matter. Nothing really matters at the moment. The world could implode around me, and all I’d do is shrug my shoulders. Not when I'm staring down at the text from my mom showing the test results the doctor sent her.

She's really sick. Dying.

It shouldn't exactly be a surprise, not by how hard things have been for her lately, but it's the confirmation from the doctor that's brought things so into focus I can't see beyond it. My mother is dying. She’s fucking dying. I’m angry, so angry with God, my own mother for taking so long to go to the doctor, precious time we could’ve had to catch this earlier, and my father for abandoning us.

A large red cart rolls by, a hunky football player pushing it easily toward the football field they've turned into a makeshift carnival. Everyone is stupidly excited about it when it’s just another fundraiser for the rich. I’m not really angry about the carnival, more the things taking place in my life. My biggest priority is helping my mom and getting her the treatments she needs. I watch the cart wheel by, my gaze falling on the library ahead. The library is across the parking lot, a new tutoring student probably already waiting inside. I need to focus on that, put together a plan, and get the money going steady from my clients so I can help take care of my mother.

My phone buzzes in the cup holder near my thigh. I stare down at my mom's picture flashing on the screen. Shit. She likely wants to know what I think. I sniff hard to clear my sinuses and then swipe my fingers across my cheeks. If she thinks I've been crying, this will turn into her focusing on me when it needs to be the other way around.

I force out a long exhale and hit the green button. "Hey, Mom. I was just going to call you. I have a new tutor client I have to meet soon, but I wanted to talk about your test results.”

There's some static, and then my mom's voice cuts through, reedy and thin. "Oh baby, I won't keep you. I just wanted to check on you, make sure you were okay.”

There's a long pause where I guess neither of us knows what to say. The results are...the results. It feels like there's nothing I can do, and my mother just won't accept we need to be doing everything we can to treat her. It’s like she’s made up her mind. Every time I bring it up, she tells me the money should go toward my education, not her medical bills. Medical bills that keep growing with every test and every prescription to keep things at bay.

It’s why I give her the answer she wants, so I can get off the phone faster.

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