Chapter 48
Chapter forty-eight
The car was already parked neatly on the drive as Sloan stepped off the back of the scooter and waited while Gloria parked it up as close to the door as she could.
Using her lance for the stick it was intended to be, Gloria moved off the scooter and shuffled forward.
They didn't speak, the easy silence between them saying more than either could have managed out loud.
The door opened and Matty grinned at them. “Welcome home.” She held the door wide so Gloria could get through without a fuss. When it was Sloan’s turn to enter, Matty stopped her. “Having fun?”
“Maybe.” Sloan smirked. “But not as much fun as I’m going to have later.”
Matty nodded. “Presumptuous, but correct.” She closed the door and followed down the hall. “I made tea. It’s in the lounge.”
“Lovely. I’m parched,” Gloria said.
“You’re a bit drunk,” Sloan added.
Gloria turned. “I am not—” She stopped when she noticed Sloan was smiling. “I’m slightly tipsy,” she admitted, grinning back.
Once they were all sat down with mugs of tea, Sloan coughed gently.
“Oh, here we go.” Gloria put her mug down. “Go on, get it over with.”
Sloan did the same, setting her mug down on a coaster. “You cannot just swan off like that, Mum. Not without letting me know where you’re going.”
“I didn’t just swan off. I got out of the way so you two could have some time to yourselves.”
“Well, I need to know where you are,” Sloan countered.
“And I don’t need to be babied,” Gloria threw back.
“Alright, alright, time out,” Matty said, holding up a hand before they really got into it. They both stared at her.
"You're not listening to each other," Matty continued, gazing pointedly at Sloan, then Gloria. "Gloria, what do you think Sloan's actually saying?"
The older woman huffed. “That I can’t go out.”
Matty nodded, absorbing Gloria’s words. “She didn’t say that. She just needs you to tell her when you’re going out and where you’re headed, because she worries.”
She turned to Sloan. “And you missed what she said. She went out to give you the house to yourself, so you could enjoy...” She blushed. “Anyway, the point is... You both care. You just don’t always know how to show it without biting each other’s heads off.”
“Matty is right,” Sloan said. “I do worry. Losing Dad, and then things with Maggie not ending well... I can’t... Losing you isn’t an option, no matter how hard you try to annoy me.”
Gloria went to respond and stopped when she caught Matty’s warning glare. She took a breath instead, then said, “I’m not trying to annoy you.”
Sloan’s brow arched.
“Okay, yes, I do try and annoy you, but not because...” She huffed.
“I woke up one morning and this had happened to me.” She gestured at her body with her good arm, then grabbed her bad one and lifted it, just to let it drop.
“I was married, happy, living life, and then he was gone and I was stuck in a chair, with strangers wiping my backside and you looking at me like I was—”
“Like what?” Sloan interrupted. “Like I cared?”
“Pitifully.” Gloria’s voice went flat. “Like you pitied me, and anytime I tried to tell you, you rushed off to work and threw another stranger at me.”
Matty didn’t interrupt.
The words hit Sloan hard and she went still for a moment.
When she could, she looked Gloria in the face and said, “I’m sorry.”
They held each other’s gaze in silence before Sloan continued, “I wish I’d known better. Everything happened so fast, and I was so focused on making sure you had the best we could afford, I didn’t stop to ask what you needed.”
Gloria’s eyes glistened as she nodded.
“And I’m sorry I couldn’t find a way to talk to you about it. I wish I’d been able to do that, and we could have found a better way forward sooner, but now we have. We’ve got Matty, and my scooter, and...I want my life back, Sloan.”
Sloan grinned. “That’s twice today.”
“What is?” Gloria looked confused.
“That you’ve called me by my name.”
“It’s not your name. I gave you a perfectly good name—the name of a saint—but if you prefer something different, and you’re respecting my choices, then...I can respect yours.”