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Chapter Five

Yuri

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Icaught a glimpseof her in town. A fleeting glimpse that lasted only seconds. But it was enough to drum up everything we had once felt for each other.

She was in her mother's car, driving away from Clark's. I was tempted to stroll up to her window and say hello, but I stopped myself. A lump had formed in the back of my throat, filled with a million words I had wanted to say to her over the years.

I wrote her a letter last year, only to crumple it up and throw it in the trash. I called her mother's house once, ready to confess everything and beg her to give me Gwen's number, but I hung up before anyone answered.

Why is this so hard?

Because she hates me.

Driving back to my mother's, I walked in the house, carrying the bag of light bulbs and the extension cord she needed.

“Here you go,” I said, handing it over to her.

Taking it from my hands, she opened it up and looked inside. “Change?” she asked, talking into the bag. She had barely looked me in the eyes since I got there.

When she spoke to me it felt like she was talking to a stranger. She was so removed from the role of her being my mother and me being her son.

Pulling her change from my pocket, I dropped it into the bag. “Here.”

Cocking her head up, she arched a brow. “Excuse me?”

“There's your change, right in the bag for you now.” Lowering my tone, I gave her an angry look. “Jesus, Mom, you don't need to treat me like I'm an asshole.”

“Then how should I treat you?” Keeping her eyes firmly on mine, she threw her hand to her hip as she straightened her back. “After everything that happened—you run off, you don't tell me where you are, you hardly call, and then you show up out of nowhere and expect me to act like I'm happy?”

“No, but you could show me a little compassion.”

Didn't I deserve that at least?

If nothing else, you would hope that the one person in the world who was supposed to love you unconditionally, would be the one person who would be willing to listen. She stopped listening after the police informed her of what I had done.