“Hi, Mom, you look pretty today.” God smiled and jogged up to her, picking her up in a bear hug and spinning her around on the porch. She giggled while swatting at his shoulders, urging him to put her down.
“Oh my Lord. Now I got two of you big oafs picking me up and spinning me,” she said while turning to face Day. “You’re not as big as them but you still look like a spinner to me.”
“Oh I most certainly am; my mother still walks lopsided to this day. Com’ere, beautiful.” Before God’s mom could say no way, Day had swooped her up like a little girl and spun her around at least five times, making her squeal like she was on a roller coaster. He set her back down gently and kissed her cheek. She grabbed at her heart and panted, out of breath.
“My word. You may be smaller but you are just as strong.” She laughed. “Leo, I’m so glad Cashel brought you by today. He had such wonderful things to say about you. Come on in, I’m sure you boys have a few minutes before you have to leave.” She winked at Day. “Besides I made some homemade mac-n-cheese that I want Leo to taste since he was trained by the incomparable Prescott Vaughan.”
“Oh no way,” God groaned.
Day smiled proudly at God and walked into the house after his mom.
Genesis and God sat at the small kitchenette table eating the last of the raisin bread while Day explained to her that evaporated milk was a better substitute for cream in savory dishes. God grumbled more than a few times when Day told his mom what it was like to cook with her favorite television chef.
“If I have to hear how wonderful Prescott is one more time, I’m going to shove sharp sticks in my ears.” God pulled Day to him and nipped at his chin.
“Oh be quiet you. You have him now, and you reap the benefits of the great recipes that Prescott left with him.” She tsked at him.
“Yeah, whatever.” God rolled his eyes and sat back down. He looked at the stack of mail and idly fingered through it, since technically they were his bills. The mortgage and utilities were paid automatically, so God was interested if his family had incurred additional debts that he didn’t know about.
“Hey, Mom, what’s this?” God held up an assisted-living-facility brochure with an acceptance letter inside it.
“Oh, honey. Genesis and I were going to talk to you about that. It just came yesterday, so now that we know I’m in, I can tell you all the details.” She wiped her hands on the worn pink apron that covered the pale gray pantsuit she’d worn to church. She sat on the fourth chair and gently took the brochure from God.
“Since this will be Genny’s last year in school and he’ll be going off to college soon, he doesn’t think I should stay here alone.” She wrung the small dishtowel in her hand. “And I don’t want to live alone either. So we found this really nice assisted-living facility.”
“Like an old folks home. What’s wrong with this house?” God interrupted, frowning.
He’d be damned if he sent his still relatively young mom to waste away in some tiny room in an old-age home. Day reached over and placed his hand over God’s and gave it a couple pats, holding his gaze for a few seconds. His man was telling him to stop jumping the gun and listen.
He flipped his hand over and laced their fingers together. God took a deep breath before speaking again. “I’m sorry, Mom. I didn’t mean to interrupt. Go on.”
God saw his mom throw an appreciative smile at his lover before continuing.
“This place is wonderful, Cashel. Gen and I will never be able to thank you for what you’ve done all these years. But I don’t want to live alone, honey.” She hurriedly opened the tri-fold brochure and held it out for all of them to look at. “See. These are fully furnished apartments, not rooms; in a complex that’s for either the elderly or anyone that has a disability and can’t work. After Gen and I did a tour, the admissions manager said that I qualify because I’m on full disability—it has nothing to do with being old.” She smiled and patted God’s stubbled cheek.
“I can still do volunteer work. The complex has a van for transporting residents. There’re also game nights and a recreation center, cinema, church, a full cafeteria, all right there in the community.” She beamed. “The best part is, it won’t cost anything extra, it’s based on how much disability I get a month and I’ll still get Joe’s social security check.”
God dropped his head down, while squeezing Day’s hand tighter.
“Oh, honey. You’ve done so much. It’s time for you to live your life and be happy with Leo. You don’t need to keep running yourself into the ground, paying all of our expenses and your own.” His mom shook her head as if trying to understand. “I still can’t see how the heck you managed all these years. But you’ve done more than any son would have.”