The Final Piece by Maggi Myers Read Free Book Online

that are perched on the jagged shore and daydreaming about the people who live there.
    My favorite is about a family I call “The Browns.” Mr. Brown is a tall dapper man with blond wavy hair and clear green eyes that twinkle when he laughs. He is a partner at a law firm downtown and an avid tennis player. Mrs. Brown is a curvy redhead with milk chocolate eyes and a warm smile. She’s a stay-at-home mom to their only child, volunteers with the Humane Society and is a yoga enthusiast. Life inside this daydream is a flawless rhythm of give and take, ebb and flow with each family member in perfect unison with the next. Their happiness is intoxicating and I find myself wishing that my own life could be that way.
    My parents’ faces dance across the back of my eyelids, bringing me back from my fantasy. For the last month I have tried envisioning my mother as a teenager with Uncle Rob and Tommy. It’s hard to reconcile the carefree girl they describe to the version of her I know. Regardless, I am starting to understand her through their old stories and records. Tommy’s even teaching me how to dance like they did — he says my Pony is impressive. It gives me hope to know my mother wasn’t always so lost. All I really want is to understand her so I can start to forgive her.
    ***
    “Beth, I am so sorry,” mom cries into the phone, “I will never forgive myself. Never.”
    “Mom, don’t,” I breathe out on a frustrated sigh, “I can’t make you feel better.”
    “I don’t want you to, honey. I just need you to know that I ache every day in my heart for what happened.” Her voice breaks on the last word and I listen silently while she sniffles and collects herself,” Gran tells me that you are finally opening up,” her voice instantly brightens.
    I twist the telephone cord around my fingers and tap my foot against the floorboard. “Yea, well it is the least I can do after everything,” I mutter.
    “That’s not how they see it. They want to be there for you more than anything. You are their heart, Beth. All Pops talks about is how you are his little kindred spirit and Gran can’t stop herself from bragging about how smart you are. You are so special, Beth.” Her words surprise me.
    “Thank you, Mom,” I whisper as tears spill, relentlessly down my chin.
    “All they want, all I want, is to find a way to make things right.” I hear the emotion in her voice and can feel the sincerity behind what she is saying but she is wishing for impossible things.
    “I know that is what you want but this can’t be made right. Everything is ruined. I am ruined!” I sob.
    “No, baby girl. You aren’t ruined, you are magnificent.” Her voice is a soft caress, “We are all broken in one way or another. It’s how we put those pieces back together that matters. You, my darling, are going to fit the pieces back together again, you’ll see.” My shoulders slump, my chest heaves but hope grips my heart at my mother’s words.
    “Mom?”  Cautious, I reach out to her, my first piece. “Sobriety really suits you.”

 
    Chapter 10
     
    A loud whistle rings across the water, snapping me out of my reverie. “Here, take the line!” Pops shouts as he cuts off the engine. A little dazed from my daydream, it takes me a minute to soak in the sight. We’re drifting onto a sandy patch of shore where Uncle Rob’s boat is already anchored. In the water, Tommy and Ryan have secured the line and are pulling us in. Uncle Rob and Aunt Melissa are lounging in a couple of beach chairs set around the makings of a fire pit.
    “Hey squirrel, I mean girl!” Rob hollers. Melissa swats him on the back of his head. “Easy, babe, I am just teasing.” His boyish, goofy grin makes an appearance as he leans to kiss her cheek. I smile and wave to them but they are already nose-to-nose cooing over one another. The ease at which they show affection makes me fidgety but it is as natural to them as breathing. I don’t like shows of affection;