Free Life in Death by Harlow Drake Page B

Erik’s lived with his father this last year, but the arrangement doesn’t work anymore, so I have to pick him up and bring him back here with me.”
    “He must be real excited about that.”
    “Actually, he wants to come back.”
    “When do you go?”
    “Wednesday. I’ll be back on Monday.”
    “Will you have your cell phone with you just in case I need to reach you?”
    “Yes.”
    “You said you and Mina became friends in college. Is that how you bonded?”
    This was a strange segway to a different subject.
    “No, Mina and I both lost a parent when we were twelve. She lost her mom and I lost my dad. We bonded over that.” Kari didn’t care that she sounded irritated. One minute they were fine and the next, they weren’t. He had some crazy mood swings, enough to drive a woman mad.
    “Okay, I got it now. Check in with me when you get back.” He hung up.
    Oh, yeah, you’ll be the first person I call when I get back. She didn’t have time for his head games. She deserved better.
    ***
    For Kari, there were no fond memories of home. She and her older sister, Morgan, were shuttled back and forth between their parents’ homes for years. The family was all but destitute after their dad died. Kari’s mother, Sonora, worked menial jobs to keep a roof over their heads and food in their bellies. Kari and Morgan drifted apart after their dad died and constantly bickered over trivial things. Their dad showered them with love and affection, was attentive, and present in their daily lives. Sonora, on the other hand, proved to be quite the opposite: cold and distant, a bit of a recluse, and sometimes verbally abusive. She only attended major events in their lives like their high school and college graduations, weddings, and the birth of their children.
    Kari couldn’t speak for Morgan, but her mother’s reluctance to play a bigger role in her life made her resentful.
    Sonora’s station in life improved dramatically upon her second marriage and subsequent death of her new husband a year later from a car accident. He left her a sizable life insurance policy. The loss and the lump sum caused a metamorphosis in her. An ordained minister now, she practically lived at church. Kari saw the true Sonora whenever she visited. The change had only been on the surface. She was the same beneath it all.
    It was too early to pick Erik up from school when Kari got into town, so she called her mother out of a sense of obligation. She left several messages, but never got a response. Her family wasn’t a come on over anytime kind of family. You always had to call first to announce your intention to visit and if they wanted to see you, they’d let you know.
    Screw it. Kari had never been big on family protocol anyway. She drove to her mother’s house and rang the doorbell.
    Sonora cautiously opened the door, dressed in a maroon pantsuit and a silk taupe blouse. A gilded butterfly broach adorned her jacket lapel. She’d cut her salt and pepper hair into a bob. “Hello, Mother.” Kari moved past her and into the house.
    “When’d you get in?” she asked.
    “A little while ago.”
    “I have company. Come on back to the kitchen.”
    An older woman sat at the kitchen table with her Bible open.
    “Who’s this, Sonora?” The woman peered through black, horn-rimmed glasses at her.
    “This is my youngest daughter, Kari,” Sonora said with a gesture of her hand. “This is Sylvia.”
    “She’s pretty,” Sylvia said. Her dentures clicked when she talked.
    “Yes, she is.” Sonora’s smile never reached her eyes. “Sylvia, can you excuse me for a few minutes?”
    Sylvia nodded and turned her attention back to her Bible. Sonora and Kari walked into the living room.
    Sonora’s house décor hadn’t changed from the last time Kari was there. Even the living room furniture was still covered in plastic. They sat across from each other on the cold coverings, squeaking under their respective weights as they settled into their