They Booked Four Seats Without Me, So I Booked One to California novel · Chapter 15 of 24

Chapter 15: The Cafeteria

The hospital cafeteria opened at seven, and my mother was already at a corner table with a tray she hadn't touched.

I came in with my brace on and my hair still damp.

Dylan had walked me to the elevator and kissed me once, hard, in front of an orderly with a mop.

I could still feel it on my mouth.

"You look different," Mom said.

"I slept."

"In a hotel."

"Yes."

She looked at the cup of tea in front of her.

"Sit down, Hanne."

I sat across from her and kept my coat on.

"Your father is going to lose his license," she said. "That's what a claim does. The state board reads it, and they pull his agency. Do you understand that? Thirty years."

"I understand it."

"And you're going to do it anyway."

"He spent it, Mom."

"He supported this family."

"He supported Erik and Linnea with my money."

She put her cup down hard enough that tea jumped over the rim.

"You always counted everything," she said. "Even as a little girl. You counted who got more cake. You counted whose turn it was in the front seat. Do you know how tiring that is to live with?"

"I counted because I was always the one who got less."

"You were a child who was never satisfied."

"I was a child who asked for a hundred dollars for a museum trip."

She flinched.

It was small, and I saw it.

"I don't remember that," she said.

"I do."

"We had expenses. Your brother's tuition. Linnea's lessons."

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