Things To Say Before I Go

Chapter 13: Jess

I let go of Nate's hand, the mood of the evening immediately changing. My mother was sitting on my front steps, almost defiantly. 

"Is it so wrong to want to see my daughter?" she asked in a falsely innocent way. 

I took a deep breath, remembering that Nate was still standing next to me. "Yes, Mom, you can visit your daughter, but don't you think you should have called first?" I asked. As unexpected as her appearance on my doorstep was, it wasn't all that surprising, given my mother and her ways. 

She waved me off. "I gave birth to you, a mother doesn't need to call." She then looked over at Nate and asked, "And who is this? Where's Brett?"

I threw my hands up. "Oh Mom, catch up!" 

I pushed my way past her to get to the door with my key to unlock it and turned to let her in. Nate was waiting where we had stopped when we had seen my mother. 

"Well it's not happening tonight, but you can come in if you want," I told him, trying not take out my frustrations from my mother on him. 

He glanced around awkwardly and eventually decided to come in. He was taking one for the team in all honesty, because if he thought he had to warn me about his mother, he had no freaking clue what he was in for.

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"Honey, I know I've told you this before, but this place really needs some fixing," she said, looking around the place and pointing out different things that either needed cleaning or repair of some sort. Because who doesn't love hearing that?

She sat down on the couch, making sure to emphasize that she had to adjust herself to sit comfortably on it. I sat down in the arm chair opposite the couch and Nate pulled up a stool from the kitchen, sitting equidistant from both of us. At this point, I imagine the tension was palpable. 

"So why are you here, Ma?" I asked begrudgingly. She always had a reason.

She looked at me shocked. "No drink?" 

"Mom! Just answer the damn question," I said, growing impatient. If you couldn't tell, my mother and I had a strained relationship, and it didn't take a psychologist to explain why. 

"I came here to see you because Maine is boring me," she said, waving it off like it was no big deal. "I'll be going back tomorrow though so don't you worry. And I have a hotel room since I figured you and Brett would want some privacy, but that doesn't seem to be the case." As she finished the statement, she shot a quick look over Nate. 

I shook my head, putting it in my hands and running my fingers through my hair. I couldn't take anymore of the sniping about Brett, so it looked like it was time to come to with it. I quickly summarized what happened with Brett, a story I was quickly getting tired of telling and agitatedly added about who Nate was. 

She sat there for a second, processing everything. She shook her head slightly and took a deep breath. "Well, honey, you move on fast," was her only response. "That's how your grandmother was. She was 67 years old when she remarried after your grandfather passed a year before." 

I could see Nate sitting very uncomfortably as my mother laid out my family's dirty laundry in front of him and inadvertently labeling him my rebound.  

"So, are you still working at Ericsson?" she asked, a wonderfully dull change in subject. 

I nodded. "Yes, Mother because like you always said, I have no idea what I want to do with my life, so I'm sticking with what I've got."