I called his name, and Coop rejoined us in seconds. I could almost picture him leaning against the door in my room just waiting for me to yell. It was sweet.
After we explained to him what we needed, Mr. Wittaker motioned to the blank lines at the end—these pages were mostly blank except for where the signatures went. I guess that covered Coop too.
“Miss Curtis, I just need you to sign here and here.”
I hesitated and looked at my splinted wrist and hand.
“You can sign it with your left, we know it will be awkward, that’s why we’ll both witness you signing it.”
Signing with my left hand proved unwieldy. No way the scrawl I made resembled my natural handwriting. Still, I got it done, and Coop added his signature to the witness line and put in proof of ID before the attorney also signed it.
Flipping everything closed, Mr. Wittaker rose. “I’m going to let you get back to resting. I’ll have copies of this messengered to you. And I’ll update you as soon as we get a response.”
“Thank you. Do I need to try and track down my mom…?”
“No, I’ll take care of that. If she is unavailable to be served, I need to have a paper trail established for how we attempted it that I can show the judge.”
Coop stood, but when I went to, Mr. Wittaker waved me back to the chair.
“You rest, and I hope you feel better. Remember what I said about any potential questioning. Really, if you need anything at all, call me.”
Then he was gone, and it was just me and Coop again. I couldn’t say the playful, experimental mood survived the last hour and ten minutes.
“C’mon,” Coop said, nudging me out of the chair. “Go make yourself comfortable on the sofa. I’ll get your pain meds.”
Honestly, I didn’t argue about it this time. As soon as I curled up on the sofa, I had Tiddles in my lap and Tabby up on the back of the couch. Coop took up the other end and propped my feet in his lap after I swallowed down my pills.
“That was a lot,” he commented quietly.
“I think I’m getting pretty good at the big-time drama,” I admitted, and it pulled a real, if reluctant smile to his lips. “The weird part is I have an attorney who is helping me sue my mom because she’s not around, and it’s like I’m divorcing her. In some…weird way.”
He gave a little shrug. “I can tell you from experience, the divorce part sucks while it’s happening, but it gets better on the other side.”
I canted my head so I could study him. When his parents got divorced, it hadn’t been a picnic. His parents fought about everything. Coop and his dad still had issues with each other. Not that he talked about it that much. “I know you don’t like her,” I said slowly. “But she’s my mom, and I have this…sick feeling in my stomach that this is going to ambush her. Then at the same time, I’m all like, good. It’s not like she hasn’t ambushed me.”
“You know there’s no right or wrong way to feel,” he said, running his fingers along my ankle to my calf and back. It was just a light petting motion, almost mirroring the way I stroked Tiddles where the black cat sprawled against my chest. His purring was almost as soothing as Coop’s fingers working over my leg to the top of my foot.
“Just…she’s my mom.” I didn’t know how to express it beyond that. I didn’t like talking about her with anyone, I actively avoided it.
“Frankie,” Coop said, clasping my ankle. “I mean it. How we feel about her should not in any way affect how you feel. I get it—she’s your mom. You care about her.”
“She’s the only family I have, Coop.” Saying it aloud made it a scary kind of real. “I don’t know my dad, if I even have one. I mean, I know I have to have one, but he’s never been around.”
He nodded slowly, but didn’t say anything. Maybe the lack of comment more than anything else let me talk about this.
“I think she did her best, and when her mom came to visit a few years ago…she didn’t stay that long. She didn’t even stay here.”
I licked my lips.
That had been so strange. I had a grandmother, and I’d been excited. Coop’s grandmother was awesome. I liked his grandpa, too. So when Mom said we were going to see my grandmother or, more precisely, she was coming to see us, I’d been excited. Coop’s grandmother smelled like peppermints and made cookies. Mine?
I shook my head. “We went to her hotel to see her. She barely spoke to me the whole time I was there. Just nodded at me and told me to sit up straight. The rest of it was her and Mom having a fight without being a fight.” After… Well, after, we’d left and gone home, and that was the first and last time I ever saw my grandmother.
Honestly, I didn’t even know if she was still alive.
“You know mine still love you, right?” Coop said, giving me a comforting squeeze. “I’ll totally share them with you.”
Heart heavy, I tried to smile. I did appreciate it. But I was so tired just thinking about it. “I’m glad. Your grandmother gives great hugs.” Mine didn’t. She hadn’t touched me once. “I’m sorry we didn’t get to play.”