so she hadn’t picked up her pencil yet. Noah was in the living room with a book in his hands, and reruns of The Golden Girls played back-to-back on the television in Miss Janie’s bedroom. Miss Janie was busy picking at the edges of her blanket when suddenly she looked up and clamped a hand over her mouth. “That woman looks and sounds like Aunt Ruthie did before I lost her.”
The stringy-chicken character, Sophia, did look a lot like the pictures Teresa had seen. “She kind of does. Do you miss her a lot?”
“I did when she first died, but the last couple of days, she’s come back to see me,” Miss Janie said.
“Oh, really?” Teresa asked.
“Don’t you doubt my word,” Miss Janie scolded. “She’s come and sat on the bed with me in the night hours. She says that it’s time for me to go home with her, but I keep telling her that I want more time with you girls.”
“Have I ever told you how much I love you?” Teresa had heard the old folks in the nursing home where she worked talk about seeing loved ones who had already passed away, and then a few days later they would die in their sleep or have a heart attack. Her heart clenched at the idea of Miss Janie’s time drawing to an end.
“Not in so many words, but I know it in my heart.” Miss Janie reached through the bars in her bed.
Teresa took the frail hand in hers. “I do love you. I love you for taking me in when my own mother didn’t want me and then for giving me so much. I’m so sorry I didn’t come and see you after I left. I was ashamed of the decisions I’d made, and I sure didn’t want you to know what a mess I’d made of my own life. I’d had two mothers. You were amazing and kind and good to me. The other one was the opposite, and there I was acting more like her, rather than using your example.”
“Were you drinking? Were you ignoring your daughter? Were you bringing men into a dirty house and sleeping with them with your daughter right there?” Miss Janie asked.
“No, but I let a man use me, cheat on me, and treat me like trash because I thought I didn’t deserve any better,” Teresa answered.
“Don’t ever let it happen like that again.” Miss Janie yawned. “And, darlin’, I love you, too. You girls brought so much sunshine into my life. Those were the best years I ever had.” Her eyes fluttered shut, and she began to snore.
Teresa tiptoed out of the room and crossed the hallway to the living room. Noah looked up from the sofa and laid the book to the side. “Wonder how things are going for Kayla?”
“So far, so good. The police department hasn’t called yet.” She sat down on the other end of the sofa. “Miss Janie was lucid for a few minutes, so I got to tell her how much I love her. It felt good to get to say the words even if tomorrow morning she’s probably going to be sixteen again.”
“I had a talk with her a couple of days ago,” he said. “I don’t think she remembers much of anything, but it does us good to bare our souls.”
“Amen,” Teresa agreed. “When are you hanging out your shingle?”
“Soon,” he said. “Six years ago, when I hit bottom, I’d been thinking I wanted to be a big-shot criminal lawyer. I was going to set the world on fire, and by the time I was thirty, I’d be a household name. People would come from far and near to get the great Noah Jackson to represent them.”
“You weren’t even through law school at that time,” Teresa said. “We all dream big at some time in our lives. You did become a lawyer, so what makes you think you hit bottom?”
“I already told you that I’m a recovering alcoholic,” he answered. “I was twenty-two, had my bachelor’s degree, and had been accepted into Texas A&M University School of Law. They have only a twenty percent acceptance rate, so I was feeling pretty damn good about myself. I stayed about half-lit most days, and I still had the smarts to get into the best law school in Texas. Two years later, everything changed.”
“How’s that?” Teresa asked.
“I was one notch away from being kicked out of school for bad grades. My girlfriend told me that