Ain't No Mountain High Enough

"Driven to Tears"

I told my mother to hold off on the reunion, because I really just needed time to think. And she probably needed some time, too, because she would have to really try hard to prove to me she wanted things to be healed between us. But was there anything that could heal us? This was the woman who would tell me how much she loved me one minute, then beat me the next. I just didn't have much faith she would try for more than a few minutes to make things right. I mean, what if she was just doing this because she wanted something from me? There was no way to tell, but if she wasn't lying about her illness, then the part of me - the itty, bitty part that still loved her - wanted to let her try.

We parted ways for the moment, and the rest of us went to the furniture store. I was grateful that no one said a word about my mother the whole way there. They talked about everything BUT her. But even with the conversations to distract me, I couldn't stop thinking about her being here, or the fact that Arjun had told her where I was. I'd have to give him a call about it later.

The furniture store we went to was pretty big, and we had to drive a little ways out of the city to get to it. Once we parked and were all out of the car, Valerie stared at the building with this lost look in her eyes.

"What's the matter, dear?" Ms. Harlow said when we all started towards the store, but she didn't move.

I stopped to look back at her. "If...you don't want to do this right now, we don't have to."

Valerie shrugged, putting on a sheepish smile. "It's just...weird, I guess. I had been so sure that Stephen would work out, and the first time I went furniture shopping for my own place...it would be with him."

Ms. Harlow went to loop her arm through Valerie's. "It's okay to be upset after everything," she said as the two of them started forward.

"Yeah," Veronica said. "You remember what I did after I broke up with...what was his name- Jason? I wouldn't leave the house for like three weeks after!"

Valerie giggled. "And you refused to answer calls and texts, and I got worried something terrible happened. But when I came over to check on you, your mom said you weren't taking visitors."

"So dramatic," Keto said, shaking his head. "Jason was kind of a jerk, anyway."

Veronica smacked him with her small purse. "He was not! He just...fell out of love, I guess. It can happen!"

"Except he started going out with someone else literally two days after you broke up," Valerie said, rolling her eyes. "You didn't deserve him, Veronica."

"Fine, fine, he was kind of a jerk, I guess," Veronica admitted at last.

"Yes, thank you!" Keto said, and we all laughed.

We got into the furniture store and found it to be almost like a warehouse on the inside. It was probably the biggest store I had ever been in, and I could tell it made Valerie all the more overwhelmed.

"What do I even pick?" she said absently.

"What you can afford," Keto said. "And hope everything you can afford goes together."

"I would say to get only what you absolutely need," Ms. Harlow said, nodding. "Then, as you save up more money, you can get more things."

"Yeah, I guess you're right," Valerie said, a small smile coming to her face. "Well, let's get started."

We split up, which was probably a bad idea in such a large store. Veronica and Keto went off on their own, and I had a feeling they wanted to mess around and act childish rather than look for furniture. I stayed with Ms. Harlow and Valerie.

"What's Stephen doing these days, anyway?" Ms. Harlow asked after a few minutes of searching through the fake rooms the store had on display.

Valerie, fiddling with a curtain, shrugged. "He got into the Boston Marathon, so he's been training nonstop for it. That's all I know."

That's right...he ran marathons and stuff. "Cool," I said.

"Yeah..." Valerie left the curtains, sighing.

Ms. Harlow patted her shoulder as Valerie walked past her. "It's all right to feel sad," she said.

Valerie froze beside a leather armchair, then plopped down in it and ran her hands through her long hair. "I just...feel like I made a bad decision. Should I have tried harder to work it out with him? We put in all this work to move here and everything."

"Well, it seemed to me that he was a little too possessive of you," Ms. Harlow said.

I wanted to agree, but I was afraid Valerie would just think I'm biased, so I clamped my mouth shut. If she wanted to hear my advice, she would ask.

"I guess he was," Valerie said, nodding. "He barely ever let me talk to my own friends, especially Keto and Randall." She glanced at me, and I swear that the slightest blush pinked her cheeks.

"Probably because you dated Randall before," Ms. Harlow said with a nod. "And you are close with Keto, too."

"Yeah...though I guess I would have felt odd to have him talk with other girls he was close to, but I don't know..." Valerie stood again, and stretched her arms, blowing out a deep breath. "I'll be fine. I just...need time."

"That's natural," Ms. Harlow said. "After my ex left, I could barely do anything for the next couple months!" She shook her head with a tsk. "I was probably overdramatic, then."

"Yeah, but you were pregnant with his baby," Valerie said.

They continued to talk, but my mind started to wander as I looked through a bunch of fabric samples for curtains. So Stephen was going to take part in the Boston Marathon? Part of me hoped he would finish last. That would teach him a lesson, wouldn't it? Ugh, there I was being mean again. But I just couldn't seem to help it with this guy!

And that's when a thought struck me. It was crazy. I didn't know if it could happen. I didn't know much about the race, but maybe I could find out.

What if I could take part in the race, too?

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Thanks for reading!

Listen to "Driven to Tears" by The Police!

Peace✌️~ A.J.