Chapter 21: Mom Says No

Jenna's POV

By noon Gail's car was still at the end of the drive.

She had not honked or called, and she had not gotten out.

She sat behind the wheel with the door open and one foot on the gravel.

My mother watched her from the kitchen window while she peeled potatoes for lunch.

She had peeled the same potato for a while.

"Mom," I said. "You don't have to go out there."

"I know I don't."

"Do you want me to tell her to leave?"

"No." She set the peeler down. "I want you to sit at the table and let me do one thing without you."

I sat.

My father sat across from me with his hat on his knee, and Nate stood by the screen door with his arms crossed, looking at the floor.

My mother dried her hands on a dish towel and folded it into thirds.

Then she took a glass from the cupboard and filled it at the tap.

She walked out the front door, down the lawn and through the gate.

I went to the window.

I saw her stop beside the open car door and hold out the glass.

Gail took it with both hands.

I could not hear them, so my father opened the window by the table a few inches.

"You've been out here a long time," my mother said.

"I said I'd wait."

"You did."

Gail drank half the water and looked up at her, red-eyed.

"Have you thought about it?" she said.

"I have."

"And?"

My mother stood with her hands folded, the way she always did in front of Gail.

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