Chapter 10: Tears
*Please don’t cry, dry your eyes, never let up. Forgive but don’t forget, girl keep your head up. – Tupac*
Bunny worked a few blocks over from the Cooper Stone building where Helen worked. Friday afternoon Jaxon called her and asked if she could take his mom home because he had to finish up on the rig he was working on. Happily, Bunny agreed.
It was nearly seven thirty when Bunny walked into the house. She stalked over to where Jaxon sat on the couch with Ty and they could tell that she was pissed.
“Call your brother and sister. I need to talk to the three of you. Now, damn it!”
“Okay, is everything okay?” he asked scrolling through his phone to get to their numbers.
“No, nothing is okay.” She stormed to the kitchen and yanked open the freezer. “Why the hell do we not have ice cream?”
Twenty minutes later, JD showed up and shortly after that so did Jolene, with ice cream.
“Do you remember a day last week when your mom was out later than usual and you all went stupid?” Bunny demanded of the three siblings sitting on her couch.
“We were worried about her.” Jolene said.
“You know I don’t like her taking the bus.” Jaxon reminded her.
“And why was she taking the bus, Jonathan David?”
“I had the car.” JD offered.
“Why did you have the car?” she demanded.
“School.” He said uncertain of where this was going.
“And your mom had work. Don’t you have a student bus pass?”
“Yeah….”
“Then why the hell is your mom making a car payment for a car she never has?” Bunny yelled.
“Isn’t that her job?” the youngest sneered.
“Um, no. Her job was to get you ready to live on your own. To know how to take care of yourself. To get you the fuck out of her house!”
“Okay, so maybe we should look at how often JD has the car.” Jolene suggested.
“JD is not going to have the car. Jaxon, didn’t you say that your boss has a little pickup for sale?”
“Yeah.” He said rubbing his neck. “A little ranger I think.”
“Find out how much. JD you’re going to start driving that and give the car back to your mom.” She said and he started to object, and she raised her hand to silence him. “You leave for boot camp in less than a year. If you want something else, get a job and pay for it your own damned self.”
“I have school!”
“AND YOUR MOM JUST CRIED ON MY SHOULDER FOR AN HOUR! BECAUSE OF YOU ASSHOLES!” Bunny yelled at them.
Ty stood up and she turned to glare at him. He quietly sat back down in the recliner.
“Why?” a stunned Jolene asked.
“That day that she came home late, and let me point out that she is forty-three years old and has that right. She was excited and wanted to share something with you. Any of you. All of you. And all you did was berate her for coming home late.”
“That’s part of the problem. You don’t see that your mom has wants and needs.” Bunny chastised them. “Jaxon thinks that something bad is going to happen on the bus and told her not to take it. JD always has her car. You’re all to busy for her.”
She stopped pacing and looked at them. “She’s lonely. You each have your lives and that’s how it’s supposed to be. But, when she doesn’t come home when she’s supposed to, you all yell at her. The girls from her office asked her to join them tonight and she said she couldn’t. Because you three wouldn’t allow it.”
They all started objecting at once and she again raised her hand to silence them.
“Think about this. For the first eighteen years of her life, she lived with a father who ignored her, a stepmother who beat her and a stepbrother who abused her. Yeah, we talked about a lot.”
The three siblings flinched. They knew that their mother had a rough childhood, but did not know how bad it really was.
“And then she spent the next what twenty-three years married to your dad. Who was cold and controlling and cheated on her. Guys, your mom is one of the sweetest people that I know. But she doesn’t know who she is.”
She sat on the coffee table in front of the couch. “She was so excited when she got home and saw you all were there. But as soon as she walked through the door, you three started yelling at her.”
“I… we didn’t realize that.” Jaxon said.
“I know. I see it all the time with the women at the center.” Bunny quickly shifted to therapist mode. “I recommended that she come to some of our group events. And take advantage of the gym membership that she gets through her job.”
“What gym?” Jolene asked.
“Golden Iron. Her doctor has been encouraging this for years but your dad would not allow it. He did not want to be embarrassed by her flaunting her body. But it will do her so much good. And she was so excited and you three destroyed her.”
“What do we do?” Jaxon asked quietly.
“First, check in with her. Don’t just call when you need something. Call and talk. It doesn’t matter what it’s about. And listen to her. She needs to find herself. She needs to like herself.”
“JD, you need to help out more. We’ll get you a cheap car or something. But you need to quit depending on your mom. Learn to cook. Hell, even I can dump shit in a slow cooker.”
“Why do I need to cook?” JD sulked.
“Because mom has taken care of you for your whole damned life.” Jaxon growled.
“Because if she doesn’t have to worry about you eating, she can go do things on her own.” Bunny said. “In fact, why don’t you ask her to teach you. Listen to her.”
“You two,” She turned her attention back to the siblings and pointed to Jolene and Jaxon, “quit worrying so much. Give her some space.”
“Two-thousand.” Jaxon said looking at his phone.
“You boys can go look at it tomorrow. I’m not paying more than fifteen.” Bunny told him.
“You don’t want to go?” Jaxon asked knowing that she hated looking at cars.
“No. I’m taking your mom to get her nails done. She hasn’t been since Jaxon had his meltdown over her using the bus on a weekend.”
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