Finding Home in Redemption

Chapter Nineteen

We walked through the aisles and filled our basket with goodies. In the end, there was no order to the things we'd picked out, and I looked forward to Ramen Noodles, cream corn and garlic bread with my favorite ice cream for dessert.

"Let's get some pop," he said while we were standing in the check out line.

"Yes! Good idea. That way we'll both have the urge to belch all night, and the apartment will smell disgusting."

"That sounds like a plan!" he laughed. I picked my favorite, and he chose the competing brand. It was the only thing that made me second-guess my gut feeling about the guy.

We paid and were walking out of the store when I heard someone yell my name. Thinking it was one of our shop customers I turned with a smile and my world stopped.

The woman was trying to push through the line at a register, and no one was letting her squeeze through. I couldn't remember ever seeing her in real life, and I only had one picture of her, but this was a person I'd recognize in a heartbeat.

Amelia Kay Duncan.

My mother.

"No, no, no. This cannot be happening," I whispered.

"What's wrong?" I heard Aaron. I couldn't focus on anything else he said, and when she turned to go through another lane, I grabbed his hand and started pulling him behind me.

"Aaron, I need you just to trust me and walk as fast as you can. I cannot believe this is happening! Eighteen years, Aaron! I was five, and she just left me!" I could feel the tears streaming down my face, and I was angry that I allowed myself to react that way.

I couldn't tell if I was crying because I'd not only seen my mom for the first time since I was five, but I'd heard her voice and somehow remembered it, or if I was crying because I was angry that she'd had the courage to contact me.

I felt like my skin was on fire and I could feel the scars on my heart ripping open as if they were physical. It was a breathtaking experience in the worst way imaginable.

By the time we got to my apartment, I looked at Aaron and noticed something was wrong. He looked like he'd seen a ghost.