Twisted Turnaround

Chapter 45

ANDREA

I haven't seen my mom in seven months, and now she was standing in front of me. My eyes brim with tears that I'm forcing to not drop because I'm conflicted. I'm conflicted on whether I want to go up to her and hug her, tell her how much I missed her, or protect my heart. Protecting myself from the fact that my mom doesn't care enough to stand up for me, and for the better part of my life, I've been defending myself all alone when she could've spoken up.

I'm so happy to see her, but I'm also so hesitant to move toward her. As if Miles already knows all my thoughts, he walks over to me and grabs my hands. "Andrea," he says softly. "You were in a coma, and I was thinking about you. What you would like, what you wouldn't. I thought of everything you love and everyone you would love to see. I thought about your parents, and even though you had moved out of their house, I had a feeling you would want them here." He taps the back of my hand, and that forces me to look at him.

"Is that okay?" he asks, studying the way I was staring at him. "Do you want your mom here?"

"She's already here," I whisper, my eyes. Shifting from his and over his shoulder where my mom was at the doorway.

"I would kick her out in a heartbeat if you told me so," he tells me, which focuses my attention on him again. He leans down to look into my eyes, where he asks, "What do you want, Andrea? Do you want to speak your mom, or do you want me to kick her out?"

I shift on the heel of my feet, my anxiety coming right back. "I don't know what I want," I tell him truthfully. "I was initially happy to see her, but now I'm—I don't know."

"I know you were so hurt at her actions after you went back home the last time," Miles whispers. "But you just had your baby and were so close to death that I think you could speak to her."

"I don't know," I admit, staring at him as if he could help me make the decision. Miles must understand me when he says, "How about we speak to her, and as soon as it is too much for you, I'll kick her out for you."

"How will you know it's too much for me?" I ask.

"I know you," he simply says, and I nod. Squeezing my hand, he says, "Okay, I'll go kick out every other person in this room and then come back for you."

He goes to leave, but I pull on his hand. "Don't leave me too long, okay?" I ask him, and I watch his eyes soften. "Never again," he promises, and my eyebrows furrow as I try to make sense of what he was referring to. He doesn't comment on it further as he stands in front of me in one swift movement, pressing a kiss on my head. "I love you," he whispers before moving away. I'm blinking at him; the words are not new to me, but he has never told me this way. I feel my heart clench in my chest as he moves away.

Instead of dwelling on his words, I move toward my mom. As soon as she sees me approaching her, she immediately runs over to me. Before I can even react, she throws her arms over me. "My girl," she whispers in my ear as she holds me tight, and even though I'm confused, I still wrap my arms around her waist. I place my head on her shoulder and lean into her touch. My mom runs a hand down my wet hair and says, "Oh baby, I missed you so much."

"I missed you too," I admit, tears flowing out of my eyes. My mom kisses my head a few times and continues to hug me. I pull away from the hug, but she holds me at arms length. I shift away from her, wrapping my arms around myself instead, and say, "I—I don't know what to say."

"Oh," my mom says, and I walk over to my hospital bed. Moving the railing off, I take a seat on it and watch my mom stand idly at my side. "Andrea, I'm so sorry," my mom says after a session, coming to sit down beside me on the bed. "I never meant for us to not speak for so long."