Relapse

"promise not to stop when I say when"

Soundtrack
Float On—Modest Mouse
So Far Away—Staind
Everlong—Foo Fighters

16

Mia

Mia waited in the lobby of the physical therapist's office for her mom to finish up her final session. There were old magazines spread across the table in the middle of the room. A few beaten up toys for kids who had nowhere else to go. The lingering scent of disinfectant. Mia spent her time cycling through returning emails and mindlessly scrolling through her phone.

It was a few weeks since the accident, and she was emotionally and physically tapped out, but there was a brightness forming on her horizon, and Mia was eager to reach it.

She didn't hear the door open, but she did hear her mother's voice, and the relief in it scattered Mia's thoughts.

"I'm free!" her mother called out.

The receptionist shook her head with a laugh. Mia joined in.

"Come on, mom. It wasn't that bad. It's not like you were being tortured back there."

Her mother lowered her voice. "Shows how much you know about physical therapy. They had me doing actual exercises. I may as well have just joined a gym!"

"But now you have full mobility of your left side again. Doesn't that make it worth it?"

"I guess," she said, complete with a mocking eye roll.

"Sometimes you make me wonder who the parent is here."

But Mia's mother then broke down, laughing and pulling her into a hug. "I'm just teasing you, silly girl. Of course I'm happy to be healed. And I'm happy you've been here with me."

Mia looped arms with her mom, and they walked out to her car together. The moment Mia pulled out of the parking lot, her mother turned off the radio and looked at her.

"Well?"

Mia played dumb. "Well what?"

"Well, did you make a decision?"

"Mom—"

"Don't mom me. I have a right to know whether my daughter is moving a plane ride away from me."

Mia took a breath. "I should have waited to tell you this was even on the table."

Her mother reached across the center console and put a hand on Mia's shoulder. "I'm not guilting you into anything, I promise. Unlike Andy, you've never really ventured out of this little town of ours. Personally, I think you should do it."

"But—"

"But nothing. Make this decision for you. You don't need to worry about me anymore, and you can't let a relationship keep you from experiencing everything there is in life, no matter how much you may love that person."

Mia swallowed. "Relationships are about sacrifices."

"On both ends."

"His mother is dead." Mia didn't know when she had started crying, but the tears fell gently.

"Oh, sweetheart. Pull into this lot over here."

She followed her mom's directions, because unlike Jack's mother, hers always knew and did what was best for her. Once her car was in park, her mother unbuckled her seatbelt, leaned over, and hugged her.

"I know change is hard, especially something this big. I just don't want you to regret anything in life."

"I don't regret my relationship with Jack. At all."