had taken a turn for the worse, then she died. The funeral took place in the rain: a sad, lonely send off for a woman hated by most in the town. Matteo’s strange words followed, and then the awkward hell of trying to get used to being in the house on her own. She’d barely slept those first few nights, but now it wasn’t as bad.
Marie grieved for the first few days, but it was more grief for what should have been and now never would be. She’d grieved for a long time, she knew, even before her mother passed away. The woman had been hard, unlovable, and cruel. Still, she was Marie’s mother, but it was time to get on with life.
Now, she was faced with an ever-growing stack of bills and the reality that she’d have to leave her home. The only home she’d ever known, she thought as she got up from the table to go into the living room. She’d sell what she could, get rid of the house, and maybe she’d go somewhere new.
Everyone in this town treated Marie as if she was tainted because of her mother. She had no real friends here, nobody that would miss her. She sat on the couch and let her gaze drift into space. She could go to New Orleans, get a job as a PCA there, and live a carefree life in a town that rarely slept. Or she could go to New York if Matteo ever went back there.
If he wanted her to go back there with him, that is. He might want to end it with her, even if she’d started to wonder if he loved her. There’d been a few hints that he might, and she knew she cared about him deeply. Maybe there was something there, but then again, maybe she only wanted to see what she wanted to see.
He’d been so distant at her mother’s funeral, and he hadn’t contacted her since then. She knew he’d had to go to New York, but he hadn’t even texted her to check on her. He might have been done with her and ready to move on now that he’d had her. That made her blood turn cold, despite the heat of the day. He wouldn’t be that cruel, would he?
She knew he could be hard, just as hard as her mother, but did he have that same cruel streak that she had? Marie didn’t think so. She wanted to trust him despite those strange words he’d said to her. What did he have to tell her about her mother?
Anxiety began to eat at her, and her stomach-ache became a tightness that nearly took her breath away. She calmed herself by listing the places she could go to now that she was free. Because, over the passing days, without the daily routine of caring for her mother, without every thought being tied to her mother in some way, Marie came to see that she was free. It had taken a very long time, but at last, she was free of her mother’s hatred, her bile, and her stranglehold.
The foot that held her down by the neck to the floor was gone, and she could get up, dust herself off, and see the world if she wanted to. Well, if she could afford to, that is. She felt her lips twitch into a smile as she thought about the places she could go. Las Vegas, Los Angeles, to the palm trees and beautiful beaches of Hawaii maybe? Or Alaska, up to the cold mountains, glaciers, and icy streams that would freeze away her cares.
The world was her home now, and she just had to decide where to head first. Once she sold all the stuff in the house, and the house, and maybe even the car. No, she’d need the car, she’d have to hang onto that somehow.
Her phone buzzed against the back of her thigh and she dug it out to look at the screen. Her heart thudded back into overdrive the minute she saw his name. At last, he’d sent her a text.
“I’ll see you tonight, at 8 pm, for dinner. See you soon.” Matteo had typed to her.
She felt fear seize at the galloping muscles of her heart as she read it over and over. She couldn’t exactly explain why she felt so afraid of the few words he’d sent, but something about the whole situation had set off alarm bells and they