The Way We Almost Were ✓

23| bitter truths

Her mother was a lawyer -- not a high profile one, of course, but a hardworking one nonetheless. The kind that mostly took pro-bono cases, defended low-income people who couldn't afford legal aid anywhere else. It's why she needed the Quake -- the diner was her main source of income. And Bree knew that if she herself felt so exhausted working shifts on weekends alone, it must be hell and beyond for her mother to manage the diner and her never ending pile of cases. She'd watched her mum stay up till past midnight, her feet propped up on the coffee table in the hall with the case files she brought back home from the law firm she worked at.

Bree realised someone as insufferable as Chase wasn't worth her mother's already fragile state of mind.

And she sealed the words away, once again forgetting herself -- it made Bree wonder, really wonder, would her tendency to put everyone in her life before herself eventually lead to her undoing? Was it a blessing? Or a curse?

"So, where were you this afternoon?" Her mum asked, seating herself down on the worn out stool in front of Bree's piano, the leather covering of it's seat peeling off and revealing the sponge underneath.

"Library," Bree sighed, "had to drop something off with Mrs Granger."

Her mother nodded, blinking once and running a finger across the surface of the cover that shielded the piano's keys. "Yeah, Bethany rang me up few hours back."

"Yeah?" Bree smiled, "Claire should visit more often. I think Mrs Granger misses her."

Bree's mum didn't say anything, her eyes flickering back to the piano and lifting the cover from the keys.

"Do you have friends at the library?" Her mother inquired, running her finger against the keys and letting the out-of-sync sound fill the soothing quiet of the room.

"Nah," Bree shook her head, "I think all of them who volunteer or go to study there are high school students. The ones that I went to school with are all at different colleges, in different states. Honestly, it's a crazy coincidence that Dale and Claire ended up in the same college as me -- even though we do follow different courses."

"Oh," her mum nodded, "Bethany mentioned seeing you speak to a guy there for quite some time, so I thought..." She shrugged.

Bree's eyes went wide as the realisation dawned over her. "Oh god," she slapped her face with her palm, wincing when the force was a little too much than she'd intended, "that's right! Nick works there too! I just found out today. And yeah, he's a friend -- sort of, I guess. He actually stays at Eileen's; Dale and him are related in some way."

"Eileen never mentioned anything," her mum said, tilting her head and shooting a quick smile at Bree. "You know anything about this guy?"

Bree furrowed her eyebrows, her mouth turning down ever so slightly at the corners as she regarded her mother. "No..." She trailed off, her tone cautious. "Wait, what's with all these questions? What's going on, mum?"

"That's what I'm trying to figure out," she replied, lifting her shoulders into a shrug. "This guy giving you any trouble?"

"Who, Nick?" Bree's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets. "Of course not! Mum, why would you even think that?"

"How well do you know him?" Her mother asked instead, pulling in her bottom lip as Bree finally saw the worry in her eyes.

She shifted on the bed, suddenly uncomfortable. "Not much?" Bree mumbled, running a hand through her hair. "Mum, come on, what's going on? First, Claire was having a go at me for associating with Nick. And now you're drilling me with all these questions..." Bree let the remark hang, cocking her head to the side as she observed her mother.