Total pages in book: 82
Estimated words: 75720 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 379(@200wpm)___ 303(@250wpm)___ 252(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 75720 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 379(@200wpm)___ 303(@250wpm)___ 252(@300wpm)
But I was pulled out of it. Not just by Ashley, who had entered my life around this point and really helped keep my mind off things, but also by my mom herself. Vivianne Perez, even with the odds stacked high against her and her memories slipping away like water through a sieve, stayed positive. Somehow, someway, my mom figured out how to keep a smile on, even when her son could barely keep his eyes open. All I wanted to do was sleep and dream about a better world.
But my mom kept my head up, and I slowly learned the best way to help her cope with this debilitating and just plain old fucked-up disease.
We can figure out how to send billionaires on field trips to space but can’t figure out how to cure this. Make it make sense.
I let out a sigh, pushing off my car. I didn’t want to go back inside. Not so that everyone could see my puffy eyes and start asking me what was wrong. Instead, I grabbed my phone and shot off a quick text to Noah.
“Family emergency, sorry, I’ve got to go. Tell everyone I say bye.”
I hit Send and took another breath. I got in my car and looked out to the house, the gang gathered around in the living room clearly visible through the open window. I could see Noah get the text and read it, shoulders slumping. He must have said something to the group because their conversations appeared to have stalled.
I decided to go before they looked out the window and saw me still sitting there.
The key turned. The ignition clicked on, the engine thrumming. It rattled and wheezed, and then my entire car went dark, the battery giving out on me at the most inopportune time I could imagine. I dropped my head against the steering wheel, feeling the hard leather smack into my forehead and not even wincing.
Fuck.
I could call AAA, but that would require waiting. Maybe one of the book clubbers had a jumper cable, but amongst a group of queer millennials who likely didn’t even know how to lift their hoods, I figured the chances of that weren’t very high.
I grabbed my phone and dialed. Noah answered with a confused “Hello?”
“Hey, Noah, I didn’t want to go back in and interrupt, but my car’s not starting, and I really need to get to my mom’s place. Mind giving me a ride?”
“Oh my God, absolutely not. Hold on, I’ll be right out.”
Noah shot up from the couch, scaring Eric and Jess, who were sitting next to him on the couch. Noah explained something quick with his hands, running over to the door and out of sight from the window. Seconds later, he was opening the door and hurrying down the path toward his car. I got out of mine, giving him a genuine thanks.
“Don’t even worry about it,” he said, jumping into the driver’s seat of his fancy new Tesla.
“Wait… how the hell do you open this?” I asked under my breath, not seeing a door handle before noticing the imprint on the door. I pushed randomly and managed to flip it open before Noah noticed me struggling.
“Ready?” Noah asked as I got in.
“Yup, let’s go.” I gave him the address, and we were off, silent at first, until Noah asked, “Is she okay? Should I be driving faster?”
I managed a chuckle, shaking my head. “She’s not in any immediate danger, no. She has early onset Alzheimer’s, and it’s progressing pretty fast. She still remembers me for the most part, but she’s starting to forget her own home, so she gets scared sometimes and calls me. At least she remembers enough to call me.” I felt my throat tighten but managed to hold back any rogue tears.
“Oh, Jake, I’m so sorry. I lost my grandmother to it three years ago, and yet I still can’t even imagine the pain you’ve both been in.”
Noah’s words were sincere and carried with them a punch that landed somewhere between my left and right ventricle, directly in the center of my heart.
“It’s been hard,” I said, unable to sugarcoat it. “Really fucking hard. But we’re doing our best, handling it day by day. What else can we do?”
Noah reached across the center console and grabbed my hand, squeezing it. A gesture that meant more support than anything else and one that knocked down another wall between us, turning it to rubble. He let go almost immediately, but the brief touch was enough to put a smile back on my face.
“You’ve got a superpower, you know?”
Noah looked at me as he slowed to a stop under a red light. “What is it?”
“Making people smile. You do it all the time. At the book club, at work, probably even at the DMV.”