Completing the Pass by Jeanette Murray Read Free Book Online

dreamy, remembering a simpler time. “Looking for my mom so I could do some corny
thank you
gesture, and there you were. Sitting beside her. For some reason, you caught my eye first, and I couldn’t look away.”
    She blinked, not remembering the scene at all. Then he went on.
    â€œThere you were, in the stands, looking adorable while flipping me off from two hundred yards away. As if you knew I’d somehow manage to see you and you wanted to give me a parting gift before I got too excited.”
    She chuckled. That sounded much more like her.
    â€œI cherish that memory.”
    â€œSimpler times,” she agreed, then finished her taco in silence.
    ***
    Josh pulled back in to his mother’s driveway beside his car. He used his own key to walk in and called out, “Ma?”
    â€œKitchen.”
    He wandered back through the house he’d grown up in as a child. It had been just the two of them after his father left when he’d been seven. Only the two of them to fill the house, and fill it they did. Or rather, Gail did. She’d held on to almost all his childhood memorabilia, down to the participation trophies that most any kid is willing to throw away a day after they’re handed the tiny little plaque.
    It didn’t take a team of psychologists to realize she was emotionally hoarding his memories because she’d learned early that life was never as settled as you thought it was, and there were no guarantees. But as it was mostly contained to his old bedroom and its walls, he let it go.
    He found his mother in the kitchen, as she’d said, dividing her lunches for the week into small containers. She was an organized soul, his mother. “Hey.” Reaching around her, he grabbed a handful of grapes from the colander she’d put them in to drain.
    â€œYou’re back early.”
    â€œThanks for letting me borrow the car. I thought it was better if we got out of there.”
    With a heavy sigh, Gail dished out several servings of what looked to be chicken salad with an ice cream scoop. “You had the right of it. Herb seems to struggle more when Carri and Maeve are in the same room. Doesn’t help that Carri’s the spitting image of her mother at that age. It confuses him, poor man.”
    Confused him, and devastated Carri. He’d seen her face when her father had first had his outburst in the hospital, and again at dinner. It tore at him, knowing what she was going through. Or at least guessing. His father had been gone in an instant. Here one day, tucking Josh into bed, and gone the next with no excuses. No lingering for years, watching them slowly fade, like Carri would end up enduring.
    He wasn’t quite sure which was worse.
    â€œDid you and Carri have a good time?”
    â€œSure. Got some Taco Bell, which will likely play havoc with my intestines for three days.”
    His mother looked at him over her shoulder with wide eyes. “Taco Bell? Joshua Anthony Leeman, you can’t tell me you took a pretty girl to Taco Bell. That’s horrible.”
    Enjoying himself now, he grinned. “It gets worse, Mom. We didn’t even go inside. We got it from the drive-thru.”
    She shuddered.
    â€œI know, that was my thought.” He shrugged one shoulder and popped another grape into his mouth. “But it’s her favorite. I thought that was a gentlemanly thing to do . . . pick her favorite place. I only complained, like, twice.”
    Gail’s eyes narrowed, and he let his grin slide. “What?”
    â€œA pretty woman like Carri does not deserve Taco Bell drive-thru. I taught you better than that.”
    â€œFirst off, I already said it was her favorite. You know she loves that fast-food crap. And secondly, Carri isn’t a
pretty woman
.” He said it with air quotes. “She’s just . . . Carri.”
    â€œI raised an idiot,” his mother muttered and turned back to her lunch options.