Chapter 1

To close a deal for April Henson, I drank until my stomach was bleeding.

When my mother back home heard, she sat on a train for more than ten hours through the night just to come see me.

Her legs are bad, and she can't read.

I couldn't stop worrying, so I could only ask April to go pick her up.

April agreed to everything. Then she went and never came back.

I called more than a dozen times. I sent hundreds of messages.

Not a single reply.

I was terrified something had happened to them on the road, sick with worry.

I was about to call the police.

Then her assistant suddenly sent me a message.

"Owen Pruitt, stop calling, okay? April's here keeping me company."

I froze for a second, my fingers stiff as I opened the photo Elmer James had sent.

In it, April was with Elmer at the Hillcrest Hotel, watching the sunset.

The evening glow settled over them, the very picture of quiet contentment.

My mother and I had long since been forgotten, thrown to the back of her mind.

1.

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

The soles of her shoes were worn straight through, her heels raw and bloody.

But the moment she saw me, she couldn't help smiling.

"Owen, you're all right. Now I can stop worrying."

She gave an awkward little laugh and hid her injured hand behind her back.

"I'm old, no use to anybody."

"April told me the way a few times, and I still couldn't remember it. I made you all worry."

Then she carefully opened the cloth bundle she was holding.

"This is for April. She left in such a rush yesterday, there wasn't time to—"

"She's out running around all day. High heels wear her feet out. With these insoles, she'll be more comfortable."

Her own feet had blistered and bled.

Yet she'd kept that pair of insoles spotless.

The ache in my chest was hard to bear.

I didn't know what to say. All I could do was take her home first.

April had come back from the hotel at some point.

She was sitting in the living room, drinking tea with Elmer.

When she saw the state my mother was in, her expression went stiff for an instant.

I thought she was embarrassed about leaving my mother on the road.

Instead, her eyes dropped to the carpet under my mother's feet.

"Elmer brought that back from overseas."

"A master craftsman's limited edition. It's worth a lot."

My mother started, then hurriedly lifted her feet.

"I—I didn't know."

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

My mother stumbled to her knees.

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

So she used her own sleeve, carefully wiping at the marks on the carpet.

The rainwater on her clothes bled into the fabric.

The faint stain only spread wider the more she rubbed.

My face dark, I pulled my mother back up.

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

Her hand hung in the air.

Like a child who'd done something wrong, she glanced anxiously at April.

April's brow was still knit tight. Then she let out a helpless sigh.

"Forget it."

She stood and switched on the air purifier beside her.

She spoke lightly.

"Elmer's going to be staying here for a while."

"He hasn't been well lately. He can't handle mess and dirt."

"With your mother like this, it's easier if she stays at a hotel."

She glanced at Elmer, who was covering his nose, and pulled a stack of bills from her wallet, holding it out.

"I'll cover the hotel. Call it a little bit of filial piety from us, as her children."

The bright red bills were like a ringing slap.

Striking hard across my mother's face and mine.

My mother was so embarrassed she didn't know what to do. She 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 out here."

"I only came this time to check on Owen. He's all right, so I can rest easy now."

"There's the farm back home, someone has to look after the land. I won't be any trouble to you. I'll head back first thing tomorrow morning."

"Oh, that's right, these are from home, grown ourselves, no pesticides—"

She bent down and opened her suitcase.

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

I don't know when it started.

I bowed my head in this marriage.

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

Until now, little by little, humbled all the way down into the dust.

Suddenly I remembered, not long ago, when April was short on money.

To support her, my mother had sold the house back home and put the three hundred thousand she'd scraped together into April's hands.

"April, don't worry. You still have me."

"Family has to pull together."

"As long as you and Owen can be happy, no matter how much I suffer, it's worth it."

Back then, she'd held herself straight, her face full of happy smiles.

She believed April would surely make something of herself.

And she believed her own son would surely find happiness.

Now April really had built a career.

But in this home, there was no longer any place for me and my mother.