Stellar Collision

Chapter 14

"Ember honey, you are definitely going to miss your bus!" Dayle was putting the finishing touches on her make up. She checked her phone for the time. "VANNAH!" she shouted.

"Already on it mom." Dayle heard her older daughter herding her younger daughter out to the bus stop. "Move it Tweedle Dee!"

Ember giggled and hollered "Love you mom!" and the screen door slammed.

Dayle flinched at the sound of the screen door but smiled despite herself. If she had learned nothing in this life, she had learned that it's the little moments with your kids that are worth more than anything. She would never take for granted hearing her baby girl say she loved her. She'd lost so much time with her.

The door opened again and Savannah ran down the hall to the bathroom and peeked in on her mother.

"Hey. What time are your classes over tomorrow? Gonna need the car."

Dayle finished her face with a shiny beige lipstick. She pressed her lips together, trying to summon up her schedule.

"I'll be done at 7:30. So I could have the car back here to you around 8." Dayle flicked the light off in the bathroom and gathered her purse and car keys from the dining room table.

"What do you need the car for on a Thursday night any way?" Dayle wondered.

"Well mother darling, unlike you, I am not living convent style. I have a date. With Tony. His car is acting up again."

Dayle smacked Savannah on her butt. "Be nice to your mama or you and Tony are going to be taking the bus on your lovely date."

"Just sayin. You're not getting any younger..." she joked, then ducked into her bedroom for safety and slammed the door.

"Asshole". Dayle called, laughingly.

She exited her small rental house on North Tresser and headed for her four month old Nissan Versa in the driveway. She was definitely still in the honeymoon phase with it. It was a base model and it had a manual transmission but the payments were affordable and it was her first new car.

Dayle was currently assistant manager of the Marshall Brothers grocery store on the West side of town. She had stuck with Waffle House for six more months before getting a job as a cashier at Marshall Bros. The hours were more regular and the pay was better. She had made assistant manager in less than a year. That had been quite a proud moment for her.

There had been many proud moments for Dayle over the last few years. When her girls came home to live with her. Their first Christmas together again when she had presents under the tree for them. The look in Savannah's eyes when she'd attended her mother's 1 year milestone meeting at Narcotics Anonymous. When she'd gotten the house, her first actual house. And when she'd been accepted into the nursing program at Central Ohio Technical College.

She still had two semesters to go to finish her Associate's Degree in Nursing but she was doing pretty well and she was determined.

NA talked a lot about a higher power. Many of her friends there and even her sponsor were devoutly religious. There was a lot of praying and thanking God for their sobriety. A lot of quoting the bible. Dayle didn't believe in any of that, but she always remembered the Doctor's words to her that night three years ago.

"You know you don't have to make decisions based on who you've been. You can do whatever you want to do. Be who you want to be."

She'd written it on a piece of paper and taped it to the mirror over her dresser. She had, in a way, written it on her heart.