10
TEXT CHAT
SAVANNAH
Me:I need you to kiss me when you get in tonight and then take me to bed.
Aidan:No. Did you forget about last night?!
Me:I deserve a kiss after the day from hell.
Aidan:Why? What’s happened, little one?
Me:My mom did what your da did.
Aidan:You might need to narrow that down, baby. My father did a lot of shit. Three-quarters of which I can’t even begin to imagine Lorelei doing.
Me:She got sick and didn’t tell us.
Aidan:Oh. Fuck. Is she okay? I’ll be home in around forty minutes.
Me:You don’t have to come back if you’re not ready to.
Aidan:Little one, if you need me, I’m there.
Me:Don’t make me cry.
Aidan:I wasn’t trying to, sweetheart. Why do you never say what I think you’ll say?
Me:It’s an art form.
Me:I don’t understand why they think it’s okay to keep this shit from us.
Aidan:Because outside of being our parents, they’re people too?
Me:Don’t you dare be reasonable about this!! You can’t tell me you weren’t pissed at your da for hiding his illness from you.
Aidan:I can’t tell you that, no.
Me:Well, then.
Aidan:Your relationship with your mother is less complex than mine.
Aidan:What’s her diagnosis?
Me:I think she’s okay, but she’s having preventative surgery to make sure it doesn’t come back.
Aidan:Cancer?
Me:Yes. Ovarian, or uterine. I’m not sure which. She was cagey.
Aidan:Now I know where you get it from.
Me:Pfft.
Me:I don’t know how they hid it.
Aidan:They were away all summer. They left for Europe after our wedding, didn’t they?