Reen checked her phone. There were several unanswered texts from friends, the ones she’d kept at arm’s length throughout her journeys, avoiding her past. There was a text from her boss, Jeremy, the owner of the convenience store she currently worked at, asking how long her sudden vacation would take. Considering she had two weeks off saved up, she wondered what he was on about. In the months she’d worked there, she’d far surpassed her sluggish co-workers. She knew he’d ask her to be a manager, and she’d already thought of several excuses and mapped out her escape route from town once she got the offer.
It was the same everywhere she went. While keeping her head in the sand, having no husband or children, she was a commodity to her employers. Little did they know that she had a bigger path in mind. Avoidance. At all costs. Them wanting her only pushed her away.
A text came in from Darin, and her heart fluttered. ‘Let me know when you need a ride from the airport.’
Reen smirked. She understood the innuendo and her legs quivered. Darin, the twenty-five-year-old drummer with dreams of making it in the music industry, had been a more recent casual fling. She wouldn’t say they were in a relationship, but he adored her. He wrote songs about her and wanted her to come to all his shows. Some nights, he helped her avoid her past with mind-blowing sex. It gave her the out she wanted whenever she needed it.
Rose’s car pulled alongside Reen, breaking her from her thoughts. She turned off the rental and stepped out of the car.
The hot, sticky air clung to her skin as she walked over to Rose. Rose had pulled her hair from her face in a messy bun at the top of her head. From what Reen recalled, Rose rarely styled it any other way but down. She supposed slight changes were normal; she couldn’t expect the world to stop turning in her absence. Maybe Shane was right for her sister. At least, he was a change. In this place, anything new was hard to come by.
‘The Cottage is over here,’ Rose said, pointing at the smaller building on the other side of the lot. ‘The bigger building is for assisted living only. Those who don’t have memory issues.’
Reen nodded, already knowing all of this. Rose had no idea how much Reen cared. She liked to appear aloof, keeping a distance between herself and home. If Rose knew Reen was more invested than she let on, then her sister would push harder to make her stay.
Reen looked around the property, wrinkling her nose. Several residents milled toward a garden patch around the side of the building. Lush plants with vegetables and flowers appeared to thrive there.
It seemed like an all right place, though Reen would make her judgments when she got inside. Over the phone, Rose had said Mom wasn’t doing so well. It was probably because she lived in some germ-infested nursing home. Of course, she’d catch something. In Mom’s delicate condition, it would be impossible not to. Another reason Rose should have kept her home. At least she’d be by the water and living in a place she recognized.
Inside The Cottage, Reen stepped into a small foyer. There wasn’t much furniture besides a couple of folding chairs near the front window next to a water bubbler. Decorations were scarce, other than two vases of flowers on either side of the main desk and a few paintings on the walls. Even the sweet scent didn’t take away from the overpowering antiseptic smell.
‘Good morning, Rose,’ said the teenage girl sitting behind the desk.
Rose smiled. ‘Hi, Cassandra.’
At least she hadn’t been lying about coming to visit Mom.
Cassandra glanced at Reen and sat up.
‘This is my sister. Reen,’ Rose said. ‘She’s here visiting Mom too.’
The young girl pursed her lips. ‘If you could both sign in.’
Rose finished signing her name in the binder on the desk. Ever the people pleaser.
‘How is it having your sister home from college?’ Rose asked the girl.
Cassandra rolled her eyes. ‘You know she’s the only reason I got the job here this summer. I can’t wait to have my own space back.’
Rose laughed.
Reen scribbled her name and moved to the side, tapping the edge of the pen against the paper. She had no intention of chatting with this girl all day. All she wanted was to see Mom and gather her thoughts about the diagnosis. Reen clasped her hands, rubbing them together as she fought a chill. Memories from her youth flooded her mind, and she could barely stop her hands from trembling.
‘I’m sure by the end of the summer you’ll be close again,’ Rose went on.
‘Doubt it,’ Cassandra said.
Rose waved at the girl and then led Reen to a set of double doors at the back of the lobby.
‘Do you want to write down the code?’ Rose asked.
Reen narrowed her eyes. ‘No thanks.’
Rose opened the door. ‘After you.’
Reen walked through, cautiously taking one step at a time as she didn’t know the way to Mom’s room. Rose took the lead. Was this her way of showing how superior she was to Reen? Reen wouldn’t put it past her.
‘Over here,’ Rose said, gesturing toward one of the doors.
Rose entered the room, disappearing inside. Hesitating by the door, Reen craned her neck to look down the hallway, delaying the inevitable.
‘Reen,’ Rose called from inside.
Reen gritted her teeth and stepped through.
From the open windows, a cool breeze filtered through the room. Even though it was incredibly hot out for late afternoon, the familiar scent from the ocean tickled her nose. In the distance, waves crashed over the sand, beckoning her to jump into their comforting embrace. The water wasn’t in the backyard, as it had been at home, but it was closer than Reen had experienced in her time away from The Burrow.
A half-closed cream-colored curtain separated the two beds, forcing Reen forward to see her mother after all these years. Each footstep matched the slow pound of her heartbeat in her chest.
Reen’s eyes fell to the dresser. There were several picture frames from their home, including one she hadn’t seen in years. For one Mother’s Day, Reen had glued several types of shells from the beach onto a cheap frame. She recalled how Mom had lit up at the gift.
‘It’s the one you made,’ Rose said.
‘Yeah, I know.’ Reen kept her hands by her sides. One of the shells was missing, and she wondered if Rose had saved it or thrown it away. Reen wanted to look in the drawers to find it, buying herself a little more time.
‘Pearl,’ Rose said, and Reen stiffened. ‘You have a visitor today.’
Reen steeled herself and turned, facing the one person she hadn’t intended seeing ever again. At least not here. Before Mom’s diagnosis, Reen had visions of her mother popping up in random locations at each new place she visited. At a local diner or Reen’s apartment. She imagined Mom showing up at one of her jobs and begging her youngest daughter to come back home. Or at least opening communication between them again. But none of those dreams were real. They were only in Reen’s mind. She hadn’t thought of them in some time. A heaviness settled in her chest.
The sleeping woman lying on the bed wasn’t who Reen expected. It appeared as if a lifetime had passed since she’d seen Mom last. The long brown locks of hair, which Reen had braided as a child, had turned stiff and gray. Her face was more serene than ever, but she’d aged so much in the time since Reen had lived in The Burrow. It didn’t seem possible, but the proof lay in front of her.
‘Mom?’ The word fell from Reen’s lips. Even though she knew she’d said it aloud, Mom didn’t move.
‘The doctor says she’s been sleeping