Page 29 (2/2)

Myclose to plant a kiss that glances off h Mom You smell like steamed meat"

She’s just home from a shift at the prison I’ve never seen the cafeteria where she works, but if the way she smells when she co h The cafeteria smell is in her clothes, but I can smell her skin, too, some flowery soap or lotion Bo’s bathroom counter is cluttered with Moest io were all s-in air freshener, the waft of air that ca foaged me, her scent made my throat catch, a physical reaction that wasn’t quite tears and wasn’t quite allergies, either The boy inMom at the same time my hands itched to push her away, put a little distance between us

"I just can’t get over how good it is to have you back"

"Quit hanging on him," Bo says from across the table "He’s too old for that crap"

Mom takes off my cap and et so to eat yet, Westie? I canme with my favorites "Nah, I ate in town Me and Frankie picked up Arby’s after I took her to Bandon"

Bo looks up "What’d you go to Bandon for?"

He was gone e left, gone e got houess he didn’t know "I took Franks to the clinic for her physical"

His eyes narrow, and he turns to my mom "You let him take her for that shot?"

My mom blinks a few times, too rapidly, and I realize she’s stuckShe said Frankie needed a physical in order to be allowed to do so coot to the clinic, the nurse told me Franks was overdue for a hepatitis booster and that she needed to get it or she wouldn’t be able to stay in school next year

I figured it was a fluke The state health plan covered it, so I told the nurse to go ahead, scrawling nature across the form she handed me

But now I reot a book about it, a ready lecture about the fallacy of herd immunity and the toxicity of the stuff they put in those shots as preservatives He’ll go on about blood alu

"Did Frankie get a shot?" Mom asks

When Mom had walked in the door, Frankie showed her the Band-Aid, first thing

I glare at her, and she giveswith me Come on, West Take my side

I don’t want there to be sides Not between Mom and Bo

"I went by what the doctor said"

Bo picks up his Camels from off the table and peers in the open arette He’s got a long fuse If he and ht about this, it won’t be now

But he’s not going to forget it happened

"I’?"

"I’ll take a beer"

"Get me another pack from the freezer, would you?" Bo asks

Moe "Didn’t you just open those this ?"

"So what if I did?"

"So you’re supposed to be cutting back For Frankie"

Frankie’s out in the living room, not visible from the kitchen, but Bo’s house is small, and she can hear She calls, "You’re supposed to be quitting, Bo"

"Maybe next week"

Mos a beer for me She doesn’t ask Bo if he wants one, and when she twists off the lid and says, "You want a glass, West?" he usted noise and pushes up froreenhouse"

He opens the freezer and takes a pack of cigarettes froood"

The corners of her mouth turn down as she watches him push out the back door It makes her look old My mom’s only thirty-seven, but in her shapeless prison unifored, the lines in her face deep-set, the disappoint

She hates that uniform In a little while she’ll take a shower and do her hair, put on tight jeans and a nice shirt, chasing a youth that’s getting away from her

She was always more like a friend with a driver’s license than a parent A friend whose bad habits and flaws are obvious to everyone who knows her, but the kind of friend you forgive because she’s got a good heart, and she can’t see it crushed