After visiting with Sierra for a while, I went home and called Mom. I knew the timing was off due to our distance, but I needed to get another opinion on the matter. I would have liked to talk to Noah about everything. But I wasn’t going to call him. If he wanted to apologize, he’d have to contact me.
She picked up on the second ring. “Hello, love. I was just thinking’ about ya.”
“Mom,” I said, and then my voice cracked.
“What’s wrong? Are you hurt?”
Not physically. “I’m fine.”
“You scared me. What’s going on?” she asked.
I sighed and hung my head. “I got fired yesterday.”
There was a long pause on the other end. “Noah fired you?”
“He did.”
“What happened?”
I told her everything that occurred between us returning home and him firing me.
“That’s a load of shit,” she said. “That poor girl. She probably misses the hell out of you.”
“I miss her.” And him. But I was so upset with him right then that I didn’t want to focus on our personal relationship until I got over his betrayal.
“It’s ridiculous that it ended like that,” she said. “Has he called you?”
“No,” I said. I usually got paid on Fridays, but I had a feeling Allison was going to mail my last paycheck.
“And after coming down here with you and everything. It all seemed like it was going to work out for the three of you,” she said.
“That’s what I thought too.”
“And you didn’t even get to say goodbye to Gina,” she said, clicking her tongue disapprovingly.
“That’s one of the worst parts, Mom. My heart is broken. I can’t even think straight. What am I going to do?”
“What do you want to do?” she asked.
For the first time since I got to the States, Mom asked me what I wanted instead of telling me. I knew it was hard for her to do that; I sensed she had the urge to tell me what to do but held her tongue. I appreciated that, though I knew it was temporary.
“If I run into Gina anywhere, what am I supposed to say?”
“Should you call Noah and work out the logistics?”
“I suppose, but not today. I’m giving him the weekend to cool off.”
“So, say you get another job and Gina sees you at the park with another kid…” Mom trailed off.
“Oh, Mom, I didn’t think of that. She’ll be heartbroken.”
“Unless you and Noah come up with a story.”
“I’m not sure what story would make any sense to Gina as to why I left so suddenly. Especially because everything was going so well.”
“And he’s not going to tell her he was in love with you. Because that wouldn’t make any sense.”
“He wasn’t in love with me. And you’re right, that wouldn’t make sense.”