Cruel Summer | ✓

chapter thirty

Today's going to be a bit of a write-off when it comes to emotionally reconnecting. Mom was asleep on the couch when I got back with her groceries so I turned on parent mode, a setting I didn't know I have, and I tidied the house. Put everything away and washed the dishes and got rid of the trash and the recycling; made her bed and did her laundry and cooked a chili for the freezer. All that while she slept off her hangover for a couple hours, and then woke up groggy and disoriented at five o'clock. I ran her a bath and now, while she soaks, I text my brothers in the kids-only group chat.

Hey guys, I'm with mom in SD at the moment and she's really struggling with the separation & being in a new place. I know it's a lot to ask and you're all busy and far away but if you can come see her (or even just call!) I think she'd really appreciate it.

Cole sees it instantly. A few minutes later, he says, hey little. How come you're in SD? Have you left Fisher? I'm swamped at the moment but I'll be in Minneapolis on the 29th & 30th then I've got a couple extra days off before the labor day weekend, so I can def swing by mom's place before i have to be back in NJ

Thank you!! I'll let her know, she'll be stoked to see you. Im only here for a couple days, she called me yesterday drunk & crying so i flew out. Kinda freaked the fuck out tbh, I say. I'm sprawled out on the upstairs landing, keeping an ear out for Mom. I don't think she's at risk of falling asleep and slipping under the water, but I'm primed to run into the bathroom if I hear splashing or choking.

What the fuck!! Emmett texts. What's going on?

She's super sad and lonely, I say. She misses us. I mean think about it she and dad were together for like 35 years and he just upped and left. She's in a bad place.

Shit. my classes start up on monday, i'll have a look at flights, i might be able to come this weekend? he says. He's in Spokane, it'll be as much of a hassle for him as it was for me. Mom could've at least chosen to spiral in a city with better domestic flight links. Everything seems to connect in Denver; this would be so much easier if she'd moved there instead.

Thanks em, I say. I feel like a shepherd, herding up my brothers and guiding them home.

It's ten minutes before my cell buzzes again. This time it's Nolan: im free til the 28th but i kind of have a cash flow issue?? Like i could get on a plane but i'd have to be hiding in someone's bag

Mood. Nolan and I are one and the same, except he's a college student. He's expected to be broke. I wait, hoping one of the others will take the bait.

Dw about that I'll get your ticket, Cole says. Ding ding ding. We have a catch. Lmk when you're free, I can book you a flight.

Uhhhh ok lemme think, Nolan says. The chat goes quiet for a few minutes and then he's back. Ok I have a party Saturday so i need sunday to recover lol but i can do monday to sunday? I could kinda do with a week with mom tbh i have like NO food money

Didn't you work all summer? Emmett texts.

Yeah whats ur point, Nolan says.

Grayson's the only one yet to respond, but he's always the slowest. He spends half his life out in the middle of the wilderness in Big Sky, where he works as a mountain guide with his finger in several pies. In the winter, he's a ski instructor and in the summer, he's a mountaineer, an expert in leading hiking groups and mountain bikers. His cell service is shockingly bad and unlike the others, he has a wife, someone else to take into consideration when it comes to dropping everything to run to South Dakota. He might have some time, though, with the summer season winding down.