“No, and neither did Mandy.” He couldn’t help but sound mad.
“Well, Mandy can’t. Her job and all.” Jill looked at him closely. “You thought she could, didn’t you? But I know you know she couldn’t. She’s a doctor, Hue.”
“She’s a nurse practitioner. We were close. She could have told me. She’s my mom,” he reminded his sister, who should know all this already.
“No, even if you were married, she couldn’t tell you. Doctor-patient confidentiality,” Jill reminded him, same as Amanda.
“She’s my mom.”
“Doesn’t matter. Mom is having a hysterectomy on the eighteenth. She is probably embarrassed to tell you since you’re a guy and her son and shouldn’t be thinking about her uterus, or so she thinks. For the last few months, she’s been having pain. Your Mandy suggested it. The pain will get progressively worse and then she will have to have it done. Right now, it is more preventative. Your Mandy even made the appointment down here, so she can stay with us for a few weeks, so as not to bother you so much. Probably because she knows you’re a jerk, and Mom shouldn’t have to recover with you.” Jill informed him of everything Amanda had done for his mom, and all he had done was yell at her.
“I thought she had cancer,” he admitted. “And nobody was going to tell me.”
“Not every medical situation is cancer,” Jill said. “So, Mandy. Mandy and Hue. Can that be saved?”
“I don’t know. I was pretty awful to her. It’s been a couple weeks, and I haven’t really seen her. Quite the feat since we live across the hallway from each other.”
“How about a big old sorry? It usually goes a long way for women, and maybe chocolate. Don’t do flowers—we women don’t actually love those.”
“I think it is too late for that,” Hue admitted sadly.
“It’s never too late,” Jill said optimistically.
“There were other things too. Not just the mom thing.”
His sister sighed. “There always is.”
“She didn’t want to tell anyone we were seeing each other.” He could finally tell someone.
“Ever?” she asked, surprised.
“It had only been just over a week, but she didn’t want Math to know, and she hadn’t told any of her friends.”
“Did you ask her why?” Jill started to make the sandwiches again.
“She really didn’t say. Everybody says that she gets depressed over the holidays. Maybe it was that?” He remembered that after the fight. After he had walked away from her.
“And you dumped her over the holidays? Smooth move, brother.” Jill threw a bun at him, missing.
“I just kind of went off on her,” he admitted.
“Why did you want to tell everyone? It had only been a week.”
“I wanted everyone to know.” That was how he was.
“Why? You could have waited until after the holidays and had a few weeks of just you time. Let the world pass by. Why was it so important to tell everyone right away?” Jill turned to him.
“Because, at Thanksgiving, her mom said something to her. It was mean and hurt her bad. We sat on the couch together, and I couldn’t comfort her. I wanted to hold her and make her feel better, but I had no right to in front of her family. I still don’t.”
“You could have just hugged her. You’re practically family. Did any of her family members hug her? Talk to her?” she asked as she laid out the lunch meats on a tray.
“Yes, they all did.” He remembered seeing almost all the siblings hug her at least once.
“So maybe you could have done the same. Now, if you started making out on the couch, people would talk. Though, I have never been to a Nordskov holiday, so maybe it’s acceptable.” She laughed.
He laughed at her joke. It felt good to laugh again. “I guess you’re right.”
“I know I’m right,” Jill said as their mom came into the room.