November Exclusive - "Trust" - Part 2

In the kitchen, Mom laughs. “She’s pretending? It’s an act?”

Leo shakes his head. “Not all of it.” He stands by the sink, sips his coffee from a travel mug. “How can I put this? Aria…she thinks like a toddler, pretty much, but she still remembers her old life. So, she knows she did the food delivery job, but-”

“Call that a job!” Mom says.

“People can make it work, actually,” Leo says, irritated at how his mother finds it hard to wait her turn in conversations. “My point was, she remembers the job but thinks of it like a child.” He smiles, remembering his sister spreading her fingers like starfish. Five stars!

Mom adds hazelnut creamer to her own coffee. “Sounds messy.”

It’s funny to Leo, how young his mother looks. The fine lines around her mouth and eyes, the gray in her hair, all gone. A perk of regressing Aria, Mom gets to be in her 20s again. She looks as she did when Leo was a little boy.  He frowns. How will this work, with Mom being the same age as him? It makes sense for her to have a toddler daughter, but what about her adult son? Messy? That’s the polite word for what Mom has done.

She sits down at the table. “Good thing she told you.”

Leo feels a glimmer of guilt when he adds, “She’s planning on escaping.”

Mom steeples her fingers under her chin. “Escaping? Escaping from what? From fun and games, from me taking care of her every need?” She snorts. “Quite the prison I’m running here!”

Leo holds up his hands. He should get going, there’s no point arguing with his mother. He says gently, “She just wants her old life back.”

Mum groans. “Of course, she does! That girl has never known what’s good for her. That’s why I went to all this trouble.”

“I know.” Leo pats the pocket of his hoodie. “Did I leave my phone in here? I’d have to run. I just wanted to let you know what Aria said; you don’t want her spilling the beans when you take her out someplace.”

“Haven’t seen your phone, honey.” Mom looks at her son. “How’s Broadcom treating you?”

Leo looks around the kitchen for his phone. “Fine, Mom. They just had a big merger approved.”

“I’ve heard some worrying things about how they treat their employees.” Mom raises an eyebrow. “Not very respectful, I hear.” She makes air quotes with her fingers. “’Working people to exhaustion’.”

Leo smiles at his mother. “Who have you been talking too?” He pats his pockets again and says distractedly, “I guess for anyone working in operations, it could be kinda tough. And working from home isn’t going to happen anytime soon.” He shrugs. “But I don’t work in operations, and I like working in…” He pauses. There’s something on his tongue, and he rubs it against his teeth.

He frowns. No, it’s not a foreign object. More like a numb sensation. A heaviness.

Mom gets up and stands in front of him. She takes his hands in her own. “Honey, I’ve been thinking about it. I know you say you like your work, and I know you like the money.” She gives him a sad look. “But I see how tired you are. I don’t like how they take advantage of your good nature.”

Leo shakes his head. “Mom, it’s fine. And I really better get- “

He puts fingers to his mouth. None of those words actually came out. The numbness has spread to his lips, over his chin and around his jaw. He stares at his mother, increasingly confused, as she leads him out of the kitchen and through to the guest bedroom. His old room.

“It’s for the best,” says Mom, lying her son down on the bed. Leo just watches, can only watch, the numb feelings taking over his entire body, as his mother starts pulling off his clothes. “Don’t worry about Aria, and don’t worry about yourself.”

Mom smiles down at him. “Mommy’s got everything under control.”

To be continued...