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The week goes by faster than I expected. My parents lived down in Portland, Maine, which was a two-hour drive from Boston. I look down at my phone and it reads 8:35 a.m. I wait in my car outside of the dorms for River.
After a couple more minutes I see her open the door and walk out of the building. She wore a pair of flares jeans and a black long-sleeved crop top matched with white sneakers. Her hair was down, the wavy strands blowing in her face as the wind picked up.
She opens the car door and greets me as she climbs in. "Hello beautiful," I greet, she sends me a small smile as she buckles in her seatbelt. On the way to my parent's house we talked and listened to music.
As we get closer, I see River start to become more anxious. Her leg bounces up and down as she taps her fingers. I take her hand in mine and give it a reassuring squeeze. She sends me a nervous smile.
"Everything will be fine," I tell her and she nods her head. I grab my phone as we stop at a red light, I press play on the song 'Ho Hey' by The Lumineers. It was a song she said she found comfort in because it reminded her of a small-town romance.
I look over at her and I see her nervousness fade as she recognizes the beat. She starts to sing along to it and I see her stiffen posture and relax into the seat. I smile as we start to pull into a familiar driveway.
Once I park the car, I turn my attention back to River. "We're here," I say as I unbuckle my seatbelt. She takes a deep breath before she soon follows. I open my door and walk over to her side to open hers.
"Are you sure they would like me? Did I dress right?" She asks as she starts to panic.
"They will love you and you look beautiful," I answered her as I helped her out of the car. I give her a peck on her lips as I reassure her that everything will be okay. She nods and tells me that she's ready now. I hold her hand as we walk up to the door.
"Mom! Dad! We're here!" I yell as we enter the house. Mom walks out of the kitchen with a huge smile. She walks straight to River hugging her, I roll my eyes at her.
"Mom, I'm here too," I say sarcastically.
"I know, but this beauty is much more important right now." She tells me. I gape at her offended while River just laughs before hugging my mom back.
"It's nice to finally meet you River, this boy won't shut up about you," Mom tells her.
"Won't shut up about me you say?" River says with curiosity. I blush and turn my gaze away from her trying to find something other than River to look at.
"I've never heard him talk so much and I gave birth to him," Mom laughs. As if on cue dad walks into the room and hugs me.
"You saved me," I mutter to him and he laughs before walking over to greet River. Mom finally comes over to me and gives me a big up.
"I missed you," She tells me with a sweet smile. I found comfort in mom's hugs and smiles. When I was younger, whenever I was going through a hard time mom would hug me and tell me that I'll get through it. She would give me the sweetest smile and reassure me each time.
"I missed you too," I tell her as she places a kiss on my cheek. She steals River away soon after to show her around and probably tell her embarrassing stories about me as a child.
"How have you been, son?" Dad asks me as we walk into the living room. We sit down on one of the couches as dad turns on the TV and goes to the NHL channel.
"Good, fall finals are coming up in a couple of weeks so I've been a little stressed and hockey has been kicking my ass lately," I tell him honestly.
"You brought home a girl for us to meet. That's a first for you," Dad says, talking about River.
He was right, this was the first. I've only had a handful of girlfriends or anyone that I had some sort of relationship with. I never once brought one home for mom or dad to meet. It was because I wanted to wait for the right girl to come along.
"Yeah, I know," I say right as mom and River walk into the living room. River comes over and sits next to me while mom goes and sits next to dad.
"What did she say about me?" I whisper to River with a smile. She laughs before replying.
"That information is confidential!" She tells me with a sly smile. I gasp and put my hand to my chest.
"Mom, what did you tell her?" I ask and mom just gives me a huge smile and shakes her head no.
Dad laughs before asking River if she would like to see the outside, she nods and follows him to the backyard. I watch her laugh at one of his jokes and I smile.
When I turn my head I see mom watching me with a soft smile. Mom gets up off the seat she's sitting in and walks over and sits right next to me. She takes one of my hands into hers.
"I'm happy you brought her here. She must be very special to you if you let us meet her." She says as tears form in her eyes.
"She's very special," I smile, agreeing with her.
"I need to tell you something," She says, her mood turning sad. I already know what it is about before she says anything but I still nod my head telling her that I'm listening.
"The treatments haven't been working as good as they did before, the doctor said that the cancer has been getting worse. I may not have a lot of time left my dear, I'm sorry for not telling you sooner." Mom tells me as tears start to roll down her cheeks as she gives me a sad smile. I nod as tears form in my own eyes.
I shut my eyes and swallow hard. I knew this would happen but I wish It didn't. I open my eyes again and wipe the tears that have fallen with my hand.
"Everything will be okay, now your dad and River are waiting for us outside. Right now, we are going to push aside our sadness and go out there and have some fun. Okay?" Mom says with an encouraging smile.
I give her a smile before nodding. I try to push away the thoughts all through dinner. As we laugh and talk I try to forget that my mother is dying. Even as River and I give my parents hugs and say goodbye that's all I can think about.
"You okay?" River asks as we start to drive back to Boston. Mom's words keep replaying in my head. As I try to push them to the back of my head, they just won't stop. I shake my head yes as I reach over and pull her hand into mine. She places a soft kiss on the back of my hand.
"You can always talk to me," She says as give me a soft squeeze. I give her a small smile as I mutter an 'I know'.
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