Chapter 1

To close a deal for Max Henson, I drank until my stomach bled.

When my mother heard, she got on a train back home and rode more than ten hours through the night just to see me.

She had bad legs, and she couldn't read.

I couldn't stop worrying, so I asked Max to go pick her up.

He agreed without a second thought. Then he went and never came back.

I called him more than ten times. I sent him a hundred messages.

Not one reply.

I was terrified something had happened to them on the road, half out of my mind.

I was about to call the police.

Then his assistant sent a message out of nowhere.

"Vivien Pruitt, stop calling. Max is with me."

I froze, and with shaking fingers I opened the photo Debbie James had sent.

In it, Max was up at the Hillcrest Hotel with Debbie, watching the sunset.

The evening light spilled over them, the whole picture soft and unhurried, as if all was right with the world.

My mother and I had been forgotten completely.

1.

By the time I found my mother, it was already noon the next day.

The soles of her shoes had worn through, and her heels were raw with blood.

But when she saw me, she couldn't help smiling.

"Vivi, as long as you're okay, I can rest easy."

She smiled, a little sheepish, and hid her injured hand behind her back.

"Your mom's getting old, no good anymore."

"Max went over the way with me a few times and I still couldn't remember it. I made you both worry."

Then she carefully opened the cloth bundle she'd been holding against her chest.

"These are for Max. He left in such a hurry yesterday, there wasn't time to…"

"He's out running around all day. Dress shoes are hard on the feet. With these insoles he'd be more comfortable."

Her own feet had bled through.

Yet she'd kept those insoles spotless.

The ache in my chest was almost too much.

All I could do was take her home first.

At some point Max had come back from the hotel.

He was sitting in the living room, drinking tea with Debbie.

When he saw the state of my mother, his face went stiff for an instant.

I thought he was embarrassed about leaving her stranded halfway.

Instead his eyes dropped to the carpet under her feet.

"Debbie brought that back from overseas."

"Handmade, limited edition, by a master. It's worth a lot."

My mother startled and hurriedly lifted her foot.

"I… I didn't know."

"Max, don't be angry, I'll clean it up right now."

She stumbled down onto her knees.

She didn't dare touch anything else in the house.

So she used her own sleeve, wiping at the mark on the carpet as gently as she could.

The rainwater on her clothes seeped into the wool.

The pale stain only spread wider the more she rubbed.

I couldn't stand to watch. With tears in my eyes I pulled her up.

"Mom, stop. It's just a carpet."

Her hand hung in the air.

Like a child who'd done something wrong, she looked warily over at Max.

His brow was still furrowed, and then he let out a helpless sigh.

"Forget it."

Max stood up and switched on the air purifier beside him.

He spoke lightly, offhand.

"Debbie's going to be staying here a while."

"She hasn't been well lately. She can't handle mess."

"With your mom like this, it's better if she stays at a hotel. More convenient."

He glanced at Debbie, who was covering her nose, then pulled a stack of bills from his wallet and held it out.

"I'll cover the hotel. Call it a little something from us kids, doing right by our elders."

The bright red cash was like a loud, ringing slap.

It landed hard across my face and my mother's.

She was flustered, at a loss, and could only force out a smile.

"How could I take your money? You're in the big city, it's not easy earning a living."

"I just came to check on Vivi this time. She's fine, so my mind's at ease."

"There's no one to watch the fields back home. I won't stay here and be a burden to you. I'll head back first thing in the morning."

"Oh, right, I brought these from home. Grew them ourselves, no pesticides…"

She bent down and opened her suitcase.

Like she was showing off treasure, she took the things out one by one.

I don't know when it started.

I had lowered my head in this marriage.

And my mother had followed me down, bending her back lower and lower.

Until now, little by little, worn down into the dust.

I suddenly remembered how, not long ago, Max's company was strapped for cash.

To help him, my mother sold the house back home and put the three hundred thousand dollars she'd scraped together, along with me, straight into Max's hands.

"Max, don't worry, you've still got me."

"Family has to pull together."

"As long as you and Vivi can be happy, no amount of hardship is too much for me."

Back then she'd stood tall, straight-backed, her face full of a happy smile.

She believed Max would surely make something of himself.

And she believed her daughter would surely find happiness.

Now Max really has built a career.

But in this home, there's no longer any place for me or my mother.