I thought that would be the end of it. Yet when I turned my phone on the next morning, the screen showed more than a hundred missed calls.
——
Realizing every one of them came from my mother, my heart dropped, and I quickly sat up in bed.
It made me think something awful had happened. In a rush, I called her right back.
“Mom, what—”
My mother’s cold laugh broke in before I could finish.
“Oh, still breathing, are you?”
“You couldn’t pick up the phone? Are you planning to drive me to my death?”
Once I heard her voice, strong and full of life, I finally relaxed and pressed my hand to my forehead.
“Mom, I have work early today. I turned off my phone last night. What’s so urgent?”
“Your sister is heartbroken from her divorce, and you dared to turn off your phone and sleep? Do you even have a heart?”
“Raising an ungrateful thing like you, I’d have been better off raising a dog. Over a hundred calls and not one answer. You think you’re important now? You think you can just ignore me?”
I let out a helpless breath. “Mom, I didn’t mean that. Reese’s divorce happened because she cheated. What does that have to do with me?”