They clinked coffee cups in a toast to a job well done.
“Must you two be so loud?” Josh’s mum complained as she came into the kitchen.
One side of her hair was spiked out from her head, and the other side was mashed flat against it. Her yellow robe was wrapped tight around her and she hunched over as though standing was almost too difficult.
“Somebody needs coffee,” Mitch said out of the side of his mouth.
Josh tried not to laugh. It was tempting to give his mother the same lecture she’d always given him when he’d tied one on when he was younger. She never showed any sympathy for self-inflicted illness—especially illness of the hangover variety.
“Coffee, yes.” She walked gingerly to the dining table, assuming someone would bring her a cup.
“I’ll get it, will I?” Josh poured her a cup.
“What was it you used to tell us about restraint, Mrs. Mac?” Mitch was definitely in an evil mood. “Oh, yeah, that it was a sign of maturity.” He hid behind his coffee mug.
“Obviously I’m regressing.” Helen reached greedily for the coffee mug Josh held out. “I was mature. I don’t have a clue what I am now.” She tried to smile up at Josh. It looked like a grimace. “Do we have painkillers? Lots of them. Strong ones.”
“I’ll get you some.”
“Bless you,” she muttered before sipping the coffee.
Josh came back with a bottle of pills. “We need to talk about Dad.”
“This is not the best time.” Helen lunged for the painkillers.
“There’s never a good time. At least right now you can’t argue back, or run away. I’m taking the advantage.”
He pulled out a chair beside her at the table.
Mitch headed to the door. “That’s my cue to go. I’ve got a couple of leads on the photos of Caroline that went viral. I’ll run them down today and let you know what I come up with.”
As soon as Mitch was gone, Josh turned to his mother. “What’s it going to take to make you reunite with Dad?”
Helen hugged her coffee mug to her chest and scrunched her eyes against the light. “I don’t want to take him back. He’s on his own now.”
“You can’t throw away thirty-five years of marriage.”
“Watch me.”
Josh pinched the bridge of his nose. “This is me Mom, you can be honest. We both know you don’t want a divorce. You want Dad back the way he was when you first met him.”
Her eyes became glassy with unshed tears. Her shoulders slumped. “He’s the only man I’ve ever loved. The only one I want to love. But he hurts me every day. I can’t live like that. I could have forty years ahead of me, and I don’t want to spend it watchi
ng daytime TV and eating in silence. I want to live. I want him to live. But he doesn’t want that. He’s done. Ask him. As far as he’s concerned, sixty-seven is the age to quit living. It doesn’t matter to him that we could have years and years ahead of us to enjoy. To live.” The look in her eyes was heartbreaking. “So I’m done. I want to live, and I can’t do it with him.”
Josh took his mother’s hand in his. “What if he made an effort to change?”
She looked so dejected. “Honestly? I don’t think I’d believe it. He’s stubborn, cantankerous and set in his ways. Your dad hasn’t been anything but predictable for the past few years. I don’t see that changing.”
“He might surprise you yet.”
“No. He won’t.” His mother gave him a brave smile. “I know this is the last thing you need to deal with right now, what with the wedding and starting a new life with Caroline. So don’t think about us. We’re adults; we can deal with this by ourselves.”
Josh took a deep breath. “Neither one of you is behaving like an adult, Mom.”
His mother sat away from him. “Well, you only have another week to put up with us, then you’ll be off on honeymoon and we’ll deal with our marriage mess by ourselves.”
Josh smacked his forehead. Hard. “Honeymoon! Shit.”