Page 154 of In Sheets of Rain

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I Was Free

Michael exploded over the telephone. I’d never heard him so angry.

“How dare she do that when I’m not there!” he yelled.

I tried to breathe.

“She did it on purpose,” he said.

“She was grieving,” I offered.

“And you weren’t?”

“It’s different; he was her husband.”

“No, Kylee. She used your kind and caring nature to hurt you.”

“I don’t think she even knew she was hurting me.”

“That’s the problem,” Michael said. “Everyone forgets how Kylee feels.”

* * *

Ipicked him up from Auckland International Airport two days later. I was both pleased to be back in Auckland City and worried Michael would get in the car and drive us back down south, so he could give my mother a piece of his mind personally.

He walked out of the arrivals, and it was as if the sun had suddenly started shining. When he reached me, he simply pulled me into his arms and held me tightly. I clung to him and couldn’t imagine ever letting go.

“I’m sorry I wasn’t there, Ky,” he said.

“It’s OK,” I said. “You’re here now.”

“I won’t go off on your mother,” he promised me, and I let out a heartfelt sigh. “But, Trolley Girl, I don’t want to have anything to do with her for a few months. No, years. Maybe decades. Is that all right?”

I laughed, exactly what he was trying to achieve.

I looked up at him, and he looked down at me.

And then he kissed me. Right there in the arrivals area of the airport, while people walked around us and hugged their waiting families. While the world continued to revolve and somewhere someone’s mother hurt their feelings.

Michael pulled back and placed his forehead against mine.

“I missed you,” he said.

“I missed you more,” I replied with a smile.

“OK,” he whispered. “I’ll let you have that one but only because of your evil mother.”

“Michael!’ I exclaimed.

“I call it how I see it, babe.”

I was laughing as we exited the terminal.

Michael had a way of making me laugh when inside my heart was still breaking.

* * *