Exclusively Hers

5 - I can't help myself

❥︎ Short Chapter

Tuesday afternoon @ Vispen Offices
Hope's POV

I sat in the passenger seat of the car with my mother, parked outside of her job with our insurance company on the phone. My mother decided if we were going to take care of Aspen, he should have covered health care so he can get check ups. This news actually quite thrilled me as I had been worried about his health since the day we dragged him from the brothel.

He LOOKED healthy, but he felt under weight. Besides that, who knows how he was treated at the brothel. There could be other things wrong that we don't know about.

"Why weren't there any notifications of this?" I watched as my mother suddenly became distressed while on the phone, her pretty, freckled face upturning in a frown. She used her free hand to close up her wallet on her lap, now that they have her information. I took it from her and slowly put it back in the center console, my attention distracted and focused on figuring out what was going on.

"Alright, I understand. It must have slipped my mind, I'm sure I saw it in the mail somewhere." She 'mhm'ed to a few more passed words. "You have a good day as well." Pulling the phone away from her ear, she dropped that arm into her lap, staring ahead.

"Mom?" She looked to me, forcing a smile.

"Everything is fine sweetie, though I don't know if we will be able to take Aspen to the doctors." I leaned back a little, my excitement dwindling.

"Why not? Will they not let you add him to our health insurance because of his age?" she shook her head to deny my assumption.

"If I claim him as my dependent, he can be on there up until the age of twenty six. So it's not that, it's just that-" my mother breathed in before sighing, another sad smile gracing her lips. I could tell she was hesitant to speak on whatever she was about to say next, but as I've said before, our family was very open with each other. At least until that night at the dinner table.

"We are apparently backed on insurance bills that haven't been paid and they say they've sent mail to the house, but this is the first I am hearing of this." My chest tightens as I come to the same realization that my mother probably already had.

"Dad..handles that stuff." She nods solemnly.

"I always thought we'd keep nothing from each other and-" I watched as she looked up out of her windshield, blinking the clear tears away. "Now I can't help but sit here and think about what other bills haven't been paid or if we are still the owners of our own house and it hurts."

My nose burns as I watch my mother attempt to hold herself together, sniffing as my own tears threaten to fall from seeing her pain.

"Don't think like that mom, this is dad we are talking about. Maybe he just forgot." She didn't reply, but she nodded her head and looked down, swiping a finger under her eye before laughing.

"Yes, your father is scatter-brained sometimes. It's probably nothing."  She looks over and pats my arm. "Come on sweetheart, let's get on inside."

She smiles before opening her door and stepping out and I watch as she does, my mind racing. My parents trusted each other with their life. If her mind's first instinct was to doubt him before shrugging it off as him being forgetful, then I know they must be having internal issues that they kept Raffe and I in the dark about.

I decided not to speak on it right now, not wanting to cause my mother further distress. Our day so far has been nice until now. I skipped school today since I slept in on accident.