“I know she looked bad, Cyrus, but that’s just the treatment.”
“Fuck.” I scraped my hands over my face trying to get rid of the image of my mom looking like she was hanging on to life with her fingernails. “It guts me to see her like that.”
“I picked up some wine and your favorite scotch if you’d rather something stronger.”
Now she was speaking my language. “That would be great. Thanks.”
She rose from the table and got the scotch and two glasses. She sat back down, opening the bottle and pouring two glasses.
“To mom,” I said, holding mine to click with hers.
“To your mom.” She clicked her glass with mine.
I downed the liquid, savoring the burn as it went down. I reached for the bottle and poured another drink.
“How is the treatment going?” I asked, pouring her another two fingers.
“It’s going as expected. It’s not easy, Cy. But she’s not doing any worse than anyone else. The good news is that next week she’ll be off cycle so she should have more strength when you’re back for Thanksgiving.”
Fuck, Thanksgiving. I hadn’t thought of that, except to ask Petal for cupcakes. “I need to order food,” I said.
“I can do that if you like.”
“I can’t ask you to do that,” I said, pulling out my phone to take a note about Thanksgiving.
“You didn’t. I offered. It’s not a problem. I have to order for my parents too. My mom gave up cooking Thanksgiving dinner years ago.”
Because I couldn’t quite wrap my brain around everything, I nodded. “Thanks again, Lora. I don’t know what I’d do if you weren’t here for her.”
She bit her lip and looked down. “I’m here for you too, Cy.”
There was something in her tone that made her words seem like there was more behind them.
Wanting to put her off any ideas my mother may have given her about her and me getting back together, I asked, “I haven’t had time to ask. How’s Jack?” At one time, I wanted to use my SEAL skills to kick his ass for taking my woman. Now, I knew he’d done me a favor. While I was away and just after she left me, I’d remembered our relationship through the lens of rose colored glasses, but with time, I’d known Lora and I hadn’t been perfect. We didn’t fight or anything like that. Mostly, we were complacent. Any passion we’d had was gone.
She flinched. “It was Jake and that’s over. It has been for a while.”
“I’m sorry.” And I was. Despite everything that
had gone down between us, I wanted her to be happy. She had that look she got when she was about to launch into a heavy deep and real conversation, but I didn’t have the ability to go there, so I stood.
“I’m hungry.” I went to the kitchen to make a sandwich. “Do you want something?”
“No. Thank you.”
She stood and came to stand next to me. “I should go.”
“Are you sure? I’m happy to make two.”
She put her hand on my arm. “Cy? Your mom is a strong woman.”
I looked at her. “I know. It’s not easy to watch this though.”
She nodded. “I’m here for you.” Her hand pressed on my cheek. “Despite everything, I still love you.”
“That means a lot, thank you.” I took words to mean she cared for me as I still cared for her, not the love that we’d had before.
She stared up at me with her blue eyes and I wondered what she was looking for. In the next instant, her lips were on mine, her tongue running along the seam of my lips.