Sprinkle of Life

Chapter 10

This is the final chapter. I hope you have enjoyed this story as much as I have. Thank you eternally for reading it, it means a lot. 

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I’d found some of my mom’s money she’d stashed away for liquor and used it to pay for the repairs to our car. Apparently it wasn’t as totaled as the police officer told the doctor because it was only a little over a hundred dollars. Well, either that or Hank, the only mechanic in town, felt sorry for me since the whole town now knew my mother was a drunk now.

Believe it or not, nothing stays secret in a town as small as Glaten. Doctor Hagar probably told his wife Hilda, the town blabbermouth, and she told her sewing circle. It was usually the same way with pregnancies, STDs, and overdoses. The entire town knew about them before the week’s end. It was pathetic, but it was small town life.

She still had her job at the real estate office, but no one took her seriously anymore. Even worse, she had to clean out her desk and take a blood test whenever she got back. From what Briana’s mother, my mother’s co-worker, said, there were a bunch of small bottles of scotch and whiskey all inside her desk. I didn’t even ask what her blood test said, I’m sure it wasn’t good.

Because of all the alcohol, her boss assumed she’d been drunk on the job and put her on probation. If she even smelled like booze again, he was going to fire her. I wished that would be enough to make her stop, but I knew it wouldn’t. She’d be fired by the end of the month more than likely.

To say that I was embarrassed of what happened would be the world’s biggest understatement. The only time I left my house was to go to Roger’s, and then I mostly stayed in the kitchen. My pay was going down a lot considering I depended on tips, but I was too embarrassed to face all the people who came in. I was the town-drunk’s daughter. They either looked at me with pity in their eyes or disgust and I couldn’t handle either one.

I hadn’t seen Joey since the night in my bedroom when we became more than friends. I couldn’t face his mother and Melanie after they found out about my mom. I’m sure they told him that he couldn’t be my friend anymore, everyone else’s parents did.

The only friend that I had left was Briana, but then again she was the only one who really talked to be before so... I didn’t even have to break things off with Spencer, he heard about my mother and her reputation and sent me a text saying that we needed “space.” I didn’t even care about him, but the text made me cry. My entire life came crumbling down because of a decision that my mother made.

I was lying on my bed, four days had passed since my mother had been released from the hospital. I didn’t work today so I was still in my pajamas with my pillow over my face. The last thing I expected was for my phone to go off on the nightstand. Even more so, I definitely didn’t expect it to be Joey texting me.

I miss seeing your beautiful face. I want to do something together, there’s only four weeks left before school starts back and I want to spend it with you.

That made my eyes start burning again. I was being such a bitch to him because I was afraid of what his family was going to think of me. That was pathetic. I cared way too much about Joey to let my mother and her drinking ruin it for me.

I’m sorry I’ve been so MIA. I miss you more than I can explain. Be at my house in twenty minutes and we’ll do whatever you want. I just want to be with you.

I meant that for longer than the next four weeks. I wanted to be with him for the rest of my life and that meant he had to accept my mother and her drinking. I was going to introduce them to each other today and start a new slate.