Chapter 4

The days of travel flew by; in the blink of an eye, a month had passed.

They flew from Miami Beach to Sedona, then took a train from Sedona to Aspen.

Every day, Carrie would put on a bright floral dress and sunglasses and pose at the scenic spots while Kenneth took her picture.

Her complexion grew rosier and rosier, her illness completely gone, and she smiled from ear to ear every day.

No more alarm clock hounding her like a curse, no more endless housework.

And no more of that parasite who yelled at her all day and held out her hand for money.

This was the kind of life a human being was meant to live.

But late at night, when everything was quiet and Kenneth and Toby were fast asleep...

Lying on the unfamiliar hotel bed, Carrie would still reach instinctively for her phone.

A mother and daughter are of one heart; no matter how much she hated her, the girl was still flesh of her own flesh.

She had blocked Eileen on her messaging app and her calls, but there was still a filtered text inbox on her phone.

Over the past month, that inbox had piled up with hundreds of unread texts.

Carrie hesitated for a long time, but in the end she couldn't help tapping that red blocked-message icon.

The first few texts were from the days right after they left.

Mom, where'd you go? Why'd you delete me? Send me $500 right now, I want to order takeout.

Are you actually sick or what? Get back here and cook!

Between the lines there was nothing but self-righteous bossiness, not a shred of concern for her mother's illness.

Carrie let out a cold laugh and kept scrolling.

By the tenth day, the content of the texts started to change.

Mom, the power's out! Why didn't you pay the electric bill?! My phone's almost dead!

Mom, I was wrong, I was wrong. Please just pick up, okay? I don't have any money for food.

I can't get through to Uncle Kenneth either. Where did you all go? Are you really not going to look after me?

By the twentieth day, the texts were growing more and more desperate.

Carrie stared at the words on the screen, the hand holding the phone trembling slightly.

She could picture that pampered princess, who'd never lifted a finger in her life, starving in a pitch-black apartment and gnawing on dry instant ramen.

Her heart still clenched despite herself.

"Carrie, you looking at your phone again?"

At some point Kenneth had woken up. He'd thrown a jacket over his shoulders and was sitting on the edge of the bed.

He leaned over to glance at the texts on the screen and heaved a heavy sigh.

"A grown woman in her thirties, and it's come to selling the microwave to buy instant ramen... what a sad mess."

Kenneth hesitated a moment, then said quietly, "How about... I use someone else's phone and wire her $500? Just so she doesn't actually starve herself into some real trouble."

Carrie took a deep breath, abruptly locked the phone screen, and tossed it aside.

"Not a single cent gets sent!" Carrie said through gritted teeth.

"Kenneth, if you go soft on her and give her money now, this whole month of ours will have been for nothing!"

"She's thirty-five, not five! When she's hungry enough, she'll figure out on her own to go find work!"

"Even if she ends up picking through trash, that's her own doing! We can't keep ruining her whole life!"

Carrie pulled the blanket up over her head and forced herself to stop thinking about it.

Early the next morning, Carrie acted as if nothing had happened and put on a careful, polished face of makeup.

"Let's go! Today we're climbing Snowcrest Peak! Nobody's allowed to bring up anything that'll spoil the mood!"

She grabbed Kenneth and Toby and dove headlong into the happy crowd.

She had to steel herself and cut, once and for all, this poisonous umbilical cord that had bound her for thirty-five years.