Ain't No Mountain High Enough

"Another Day In Paradise"

The next morning as we were clearing the breakfast table, Arjun asked, "Did you talk to your mother?"

I froze. In all the chaos last week, I had forgotten that Arjun was the one who told my mother I was in Boston. A flash of frustration went through me, and I knew it showed on my face. "Why did you tell her I was in Boston?"

Arjun paled slightly. "I...she said she was dying, and she was so desperate to talk to you, I just..."

"She couldn't wait literally two weeks for me to come back?"

Arjun tightened his grip on the plate he was holding. "I don't know, Randall. I just...if she's going to die...I felt bad for her, I guess. But she took the first flight to Boston, so surely that says something. Maybe this time she really does want to be better."

I narrowed my eyes. "Yeah, she told me, multiple times. She said she would be my mother before she died. But you want to know what happened right after she told me that? She disappeared, as usual! Ms. Harlow even went to the hotel she was staying at and they told her my mother checked out- the morning after we had that conversation!" I stopped to turn my wheelchair around so I could leave. I hadn't felt my internal volcano in forever, but now, it was about to erupt. "This is why I don't trust her. She can whine and cry and act all pitiful so people will feel sorry for her. People like you, apparently!"

"Randall, I'm sorry, I-"

I didn't hear whatever else he was going to say. I wheeled out of the kitchen and into the living room to catch my temper. This wasn't necessarily Arjun's fault. Yeah, he told my mother where we were, but she just had a way of getting people to do things for her. But really, I would have expected Arjun to know better!

Ms. Harlow came in a moment later. "Randall, are you okay?"

"No," I said flatly. At least I was telling the truth now. "No, I'm not."

"We...we can talk about it, if you want. And you should probably make another appointment with the therapist?"

"What's there to talk about?" I asked. I didn't mean to sound so angry at her, but I couldn't help it anymore. "Talking through this isn't going to make me feel better. Maybe it will for a little while, but not forever. I'm sick of living like this!"

Ms. Harlow was quiet for a moment as she stared at the ground. At first, I thought she was going to walk away, but instead, she came over and gave me a tight hug. I sat there frozen for only a second before I returned the hug and squeezed my eyes shut.

"I'm sorry this is happening to you, Randall," she said. "I know talking about it doesn't really help. Nothing really helps, at first. You just have to...work through it, day by day. I know you've already been doing that for so long."

I sighed. "I know. I guess I just got...disappointed again, and I'm more mad at myself for it than anyone else." She let go of me and crossed her arms, and the look of frustration on her face told me she couldn't help but be disappointed, too. "This won't happen again," I promised. "Next time, I'll refuse to speak to her, whether she's dying or not."

"I'll support whatever you decide," Ms. Harlow said with a slight nod. She patted my shoulder before heading back to the kitchen, and Arjun took her place in front of me.

"I'm...really sorry, Randall." He wouldn't look up- guilty Arjun was a rare appearance!

"It's...it's fine," I said, shrugging. I couldn't really blame him for being fooled by my mother, could I? "You're good, man." I gave him the hint of a smile, and he shared it.

~ ~ ~

Two days later, I got the shock of my life when my mother's number appeared on my phone's screen. I let it ring, doing my best to ignore it and focus on filling out the job application I had to do in order to work for the mental health center. Eventually, it finally stopped, but by then I couldn't concentrate on the application anymore. Groaning and rubbing my hands over my face, I leaned back in my wheelchair.

A notification made me look back up. Now she was texting me? Before I could sweep it away, I caught some of what she said:

Her: I'm sorry I missed you, my flight got bumped up...

I was curious enough to open the text and see the rest.

Her: ...and I couldn't change it. I'm back home now and I was hoping we could go to dinner.

Uhhh...okay? If that was the case, then why hadn't she just told me? Why had it taken so long for her to explain? I mean, I was glad that she hadn't dropped off the face of the earth again, but still. So I typed out my questions and sent them, hoping she had a good enough excuse to make me want to go to dinner with her. I watched the dots appear on the screen that indicated she was typing, and it went on for a while before she said:

Her: My phone broke. Sorry.

I didn't know whether to believe her or not, but at least she was talking to me now. I let her know that I would be willing to meet (as long as we went where I wanted to go, and we wouldn't have to stay long). She agreed to both and we planned to go out the next day.

Despite the fact that I actually felt okay about the decision, I couldn't help but wonder if it was the right thing to do.

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I'm back! Thank y'all so much for reading!

Listen to "Another Day In Paradise" by Phil Collins!

Peace✌️~ A.J.