Tell Me What You Hate About Me

45: Another Life

It wasn't a secret in my little group of misfits that I didn't have much in common with my mother. She was driven, smart, demanding, and difficult to get along with. One out of four wasn't nearly enough for us to be on the same page.

"Dr. Hughes," Butterfly said in her customer service voice. She remembered that I was there and that we weren't exactly close, right? "I have all of your usuals in stock now.

"Great. Thank you. I had a long day, and all I want is to take a bath with one of your bath bombs. There must be some sort of extra magic you put into them, because I can't use anything else to wind down," my mom replied with a laugh.

There was probably no difference between Butterfly's and anything she could buy on Amazon for much cheaper, but it wasn't like I could say anything. One, I didn't want her to know I was there, and two, I also liked to spend money.

I grabbed Dominic's wrist and pulled him with me into the back room labeled employees only. There were plenty of memories in that room, but I pushed them all out of my head as I ran my hand through my hair and shut the door behind us.

"Nope. I cannot deal with this today. I already feel like enough of a failure, so I really don't need to hear it from her right now," I said, and I wasn't sure if it was to Dominic or to myself.

"We'll get the talisman back, Lindsay. If it found its way to you in the first place, it'll find its way back. Don't be stupid and pretend you haven't noticed the pattern here." Dominic hesitated like he wanted to add something else, but he didn't.

"I just hope we didn't notice that it was missing too late," I said.

Dominic nodded. "Yeah, me too."

What happened to everything is fine and it will work out and you have nothing to worry about?

I spent years of my life not bothering to care, and now that I had a few things to care about, all it was doing was stressing me out and making me miserable. Jack never believed me when I told him that indifference was the key to happiness, and over the past few weeks, he, Sierra, Dominic, and the talisman had worn me down. But there was plenty of evidence that I was right all along.

Then why was there still a part of me that found excitement in the situation as a whole as well? My mother was just outside, the talisman was missing, I was just beginning a new something with someone I used to hate, and it was almost like I was experiencing life for the first time.

Life was a scam, as Dominic once told me.

The door to the back room swing open, and Butterfly stood in the doorway. "Why are you hiding back here? She's your mother."

"Couldn't you have just lied so she would leave? I'm obviously going through something right now, and she's the last person I need," I whispered.

"Never make an enemy of your gynecologist," Butterfly replied as she headed back out to the shop.

I glanced over at Dominic as the door shut behind Butterfly.

"What do you think?" Dominic asked.

"I mean, that seems like really good life advice, but it's not actually relevant to me or our situation," I said.

"Not the gynecologist thing." Dominic shook his head. "Don't be stupid. Where do you think we should go from here?"

I hesitated for a moment. "I think I should care and live my life."

"That's very vague."

Was it though? I looked down at Dominic's hand, and as much as I wanted to reach for it for one last bit of reassurance, I pulled my hand back. He certainly wasn't the most touchy-feely person in the world.