"No Ma. I can't do it. I just can't," I repeated.
"No Lara. I'm tired of watching you just live day by day like this. You don't do anything for fun. You don't have any friends over. You don't live," she threw up her hands in frustration.
Pretending that I didn't hear her comment on my social life or lack thereof, I replied to her.
"That money is for me and you to go somewhere together,"
"Lara. I am not going anywhere with you until you agree to go to Winnipeg. In fact, I will not talk to you until you agree," she promised. Anger flashed in her eyes.
There it goes. One thing to know about my Ma? She can survive weeks of not talking to someone. She had done it with Dad once and they shared a bedroom! I was going nowhere with this. And I couldn't deny the fact that there was a tiny part of me that really wanted to go too.
"Fine, I'm going," I said.
"Lara! You're the best!" She jumped on me to encase me in a giant bear hug and I reciprocated. No matter how loving, I didn't feel her hugs often enough. I firmly believed that there was no such thing as enough or too many 'Ma hugs'.
"I'll call Madison to let her know,"
"You do that while I fix us up some dinner," she said, getting off me.
As soon as she left, I started panicking. What would I do? How would I call Madison?
*****************
After eating dinner, I sat with Ma watching TV. I had a plate of chocolate cake in my hands which I was eating slowly to devour the taste.
Ma had already finished hers and was reading her book instead of watching the TV. Even though I had sweet little snacks all the time in the bakery, I still loved to eat dessert.
When the episode ended with my slice of cake, I finally got up from the couch to put my plate in the dishwasher. I turned it on and called out to Ma.
"Ma! I'm going to sleep, goodnight!"
"Goodnight! I'll come in a while," she replied, her tone sounding not a bit sleepy to me.
She really liked reading thrillers. Good thing we had public libraries. They saved a ton of money.
When I was at last alone in my bedroom for the day, I picked up my phone. With my other hand, I picked up the little slip of paper with Madison's number.
With a shivering hand, I dialled her number and put the phone next to my ear.
She picked up almost immediately.
"Madison Red here," said her sing-song voice.
I was silent for a few heartbeats. I never answered an unknown number like that.
"May I know who is calling?" she said after a few moments. A little hesitancy entered her tone.
"Hey. It's Lara. Lara Toller" I finally spoke.
"Lara! I was waiting for your call!" she mentioned nothing about calling my Ma.
"Yep. It's me. I just wanted to say, I'll come,"
YOU ARE READING
Journey to Truth
Mystery / ThrillerA baker with a secret. Lara Toller was baking away like any other day, when suddenly, someone came in the door. This was the last- no- second last face she expected to see. She was thrown off her feet as the newcomer asks her to accompany her to ano...
