These Things We Do

-Drew-
“Call me.”
“Like, now.”
“Drew, seriously. Call me.”
“I’m not messing around, Drew.”
“This is serious. Like, seriously serious.”
“Andy, please.”
Uh oh. Charlie only called him Andy when something was really wrong. After reading all her texts, Drew dialed the familiar number and waited for her to pick up.
“Andy, we have a problem.” She said, bypassing the greetings.
“I kinda figured that.” He chuckled.
“It’s not funny, Drew!” She yelled.
“What’s going on?” He asked, instantly getting serious.
“Mom showed up.” His stomach dropped.
“What?” He asked.
“I said mom showed up!”
“I heard what you said.” He responded. “But. What the hell?”
“I know.” She agreed, before launching into the story of how their mother basically cornered her in the Buffalo Wild Wings bathroom.
“What are you going to do?” He asked when she was done.
“ME??” She yelled. “Just me? She’s your mother too!”
“I know, I know. That’s not what I meant. But she knows where you are, Char. And we know practically nothing about her except she left. She could be psycho. Dad never even told us her name.”
“Her name is Anne. And she is psycho. She practically prided me on being a gold-digger and suggested we take advantage of Sean’s bank account together.” She said with venom in her voice.
“You said that. I can’t believe this.”
“What do we do, Andy?” She asked in a small voice.
He paused. “I think you should talk to her.” He heard her start to protest. “Just hear me out, okay?” She said nothing. “If she finds you again, I think you should at least hear her out. See what she has to say. Maybe we’ll finally know why she left. And if she’s bat shit crazy, you never have to talk to her again. But she’s our mom, Char.”
She sighed. “I guess you’re right.” She said. “I just don’t like the way she was talking about Sean. It makes me nervous.”
“We’ll figure it out, kiddo. I promise. But now I have to go. Duty calls.”
“Alright. I’ll talk to you later.” She said.
“I love you, Charlie.” He said.
“Love you too, big bro.”

Notes