mending the pieces ~ camren

chapter thirty nine

"Hi, sweetie." The woman sitting at the table greeted me.

"Oh, my god, mom!" I exclaimed and jogged up to her and almost suffocated her in my embrace. "What are you doing here?"

"Wow!" she chuckled and hugged me back just as tight. "I did not expect such an enthusiastic reaction."

"You're kidding, right? You do realize how much I missed having you home, don't you?" I asked with a hint of a smile and my eyes scanning her face lovingly.

"Of course I do, Lauren. I missed you, too." she replied and kissed my head, smiling.

"Good," I let out an airy laugh. "So how come are you here? Did you two know about it?" I asked Camila and Sinu who were both watching our interaction side-hugging each other.

"I found out this morning, you can't blame me." Camila spoke up first, raising her hands in the air, suggesting to not being at fault.

"Well, you see, Clara and I wanted it to be a surprise for you." Sinu explained.

"You sure succeeded! Thank you." I admitted and came up to my girlfriend's mom and showed my gratitude through a hug.

The four of us, plus Sofia who was woken up by our laughter and loud voices, sat by the table to have breakfast together and enjoy the company.

"So you're staying for the weekend and then go back to the facility?" I asked after swallowing a portion of food I consumed, assuming that my mom's doctors weren't so sure about her being ready to be out and go back home again just a few days ago.

"Nope, we're both going home today, sweetie. For good." My mom answered me proudly with her chin raised high and a satisfied grin plastered on her healthy-looking face.

"Are you serious?" I asked surprised, throwing the fork I held on the plate and throwing my arms around her neck, instead. "I'm so proud of you." I whispered in her ear and kissed her on the cheek.

"Thank you, love." She expressed. "Of course, it is not the end of my recovery. Two days ago my doctor told me I was good to go home this weekend if I felt ready, he gave me the time to think it through. And we came to conclusion that being with you again would be the best option for me, and with your school work and everything, you couldn't visit me too often, so we made a deal and now I'm here." She explained easily and shrugged nonchalantly.

"That's awesome, mom. I'm really happy for you. But what deal?" I asked curiously. Sinu was listening along, and Camila was making sure Sofia wasn't entirely focused on our conversation and the other two talked about random stuff.

"That I would ease off of work, he said I shouldn't have worked so much. That made me realize that I overworked myself, but didn't think much of it, feeling so great about the fact that I went back to work. The exhaustion from it got me and it was one of the reason for my breakdown the other day. The second rule is to get extra therapy, now I will not only attend the group therapy every second day, but also have private sessions more often."

"That's understandable, you know you can count on me, mom. I'm here for you." I made sure to reminder her that.

"I know, Laur. But I'm not going to make the same mistake as I did last time. The good thing is that they didn't change my medication, so it means no extra mood swings and no more becoming accustomed to new pills. And we both know how tough it used to be on me." she informed all of us, now not only looking at me.

"Tell me about it, Camila here knows all about my way of dealing with new prescriptions." Sinu spoke up, with a hint of humor audible in her voice. It made me feel good, knowing that despite the serious topic we were talking about, we weren't being too stern.