Page 61 of A Love Letter to Whiske

Flipping through the contacts on my phone, I dropped my finger on Mom’s name and a picture of us at my graduation filled the screen. It’d been a while since we’d talked other than text, so I sat back, ready for a long conversation of catching up.

“Hi sweetie!” She yelled over the background noise.

“Mom?”

“Huh?”

“You there?”

A loud burst of laughter rang out and I heard Mom yell something before the noise disappeared. “Sorry, honey. Wayne and I are out at a new bar that opened downtown. What’s up?”

Even my mom is cooler than I am.

“Oh, sorry. I was just calling to catch up.”

“Aw, I miss you, honey! How’s work?”

It was always the first question she asked me, and really it was the only thing sheknewto ask about — work.

I sighed. “It’s great. Kicking ass and taking names like always.”

“That’s my girl.”

“I’ll let you get back to Wayne. I love you.”

“I love you, too. Is everything okay?”

Mom knew. She always knew. But tonight wasn’t the night to unload on her. “Everything’s okay, Mom. Give me a call tomorrow okay?”

“Okay honey. Talk then!” She ended the call quickly, and I chuckled, thinking how different she was from the mom who’d brought me up in high school. That woman never left the house except for work, and she rarely smiled. Wayne had sparked life back into my mom, and I loved him for it.

I poured up another glass of wine, realizing I’d finished my first one probably a little too quickly. Then, I dialed Jenna.

“Sup, betch.”

“Please tell me I’m not interrupting your super fun Friday night out.”

She scoffed. “Hardly.”

“Good. My mom is already drunk and living it up and I’m wallowing in self-pity on the couch and looking for someone to whine to.”

“Well,” Jenna said on a breath, like she was adjusting her position. “Lucky for you, I just finished eating my weight in egg rolls and Ben & Jerry’s and I’m only forty minutes intoCruel Intentions. The night is young.”

“You’re so beautiful.”

“I know,” she said around a mouthful of something — my bet was on the ice cream. “So, my pity party hat is strapped on. What are we celebrating?”

I clicked on my television for background noise, landing on MTV. “Oh you know, the usual. I miss the guy I basically told to fuck off and I have nothing to show for my current life outside of an extensive client list at work.”

“Why is that a bad thing? You work your ass off and everyone sees it. IwishI had your work ethic. You’re going to be making six figures by the time you’re thirty.”

“Yeah…” I traced the rim of my glass with my fingertip. “I mean, don’t get me wrong, I love my job. I’m proud of what I’ve done.”

“But everything sucks without Jamie.”

I sighed. “Nailed it.”

“Okay, before we go any further,” Jenna said, and I heard her suck another spoonful of ice cream. “What do you need from me tonight? Do you want me to pet your hair and talk you off the ledge or do you want some tough bestie love that feels like an ass slap and a punch straight to the nose all at once?”