Chapter 12
Mara walked down a white hallway, there was a Morgue sign on the door. The lights were flickering on and off. She didn't want to walk through the doors, but it's as if her body was floating. "Mrs. Sidney we need you to identify the body," a voice said. She walked closer and closer afraid to see her husband lying on the cold metal table. He was under a sheet and she had to identify him just as she had before.
As she got right up to the table, the white sheet was suddenly was pulled off She screamed, it was Sam! Mara shot straight up from her bed, panting and covered in sweat. It was a nightmare, an awful nightmare. She hadn't had dreams like that since right after Keith passed away. In a haze she stared at the clock, it was already dinner time. By the time Wiley had dropped her off, it was almost four in the morning. After a long shower she crawled into bed. She was restless, but must have finally dozed off in the late morning.
Her cell phone buzzed. She slowly got out of bed and made her way to the phone charging on the dresser. They're were two missed calls from Gillian. She wondered how Sam was and text Wiley. Then she called her daughter, "Hey hunny."
Jillian huffed into the phone, "Mom, where have you been I've been trying to reach you since last night." "I'm sorry, Jilly bean. It's been crazy here." Really," she said to her mom. "Well can't be crazier than mine. Bryan, Kate's friend, asked me out, you know the one who I was telling you about," she giggled.
"Wait, the one who was dating Kate's other friend?" Mara asked. "Well , yeah but they broke up last week and I mean it wasn't serious, ya know." Mara laughed quietly, "Oh well that's good." Jillian could tell her mom sounded strange. "Mom, are you ok? You sound a little off." "Uhmm, well I had a bad dream, but ...well you know the guy I'm seeing?"
"Detective Boytoy," Jillian laughed. She always had some name for him. "His name is Sam. Well we were out the other night and he ended up getting pretty hurt."
"Oh my god, mom, I'm so sorry, are you ok? Is he ok?" she asked, upset. "Yeah hunny, I'm fine, a little shaken up." She didn't want to upset her daughter by telling her all the details. "He's banged up, but he'll be ok too." It was scary and it just brought some stuff up for me. Then his mother said some really nasty stuff." Mara replied. "Wait, are you serious? "Yeah about my age basically, Mara answered. "I know I told you a little about him, but I kind of left out that he's younger than me." "Ha," Gillian laughed. "Go mom, you're a cougar" Mara laughed.
"Ok so like how young are we talking, like do I have to worry about people calling him my brother," she joked. "Oh god I hope not…he's 34…" Mom, that's like what 8 years? I mean dad was 6 years older than you. I thought you were gonna say like 20 something like me."
"Yeah I know, but still it makes things a little more stressful. We're kind of in different places in life. But it's not just that...I mean I have you and I don't want anymore kids." 'Whoa, are you guys that serious?' Mara paused for a minute. "I don't know. I can't really explain it. I mean I loved your father so much… But I guess this just seems so different. And yet at the same time, I feel a way I don't know, I feel like I'm falling in love again. But it scares me Jilly."
"Aww mom." Mara knew Jillian wouldn't judge her. She was her best friend. Always had been. Though it was hard for Mara to talk about anyone else to Jillian except for her dad. At the same time, she couldn't lie about her feelings to her either.
"Mom that's great. Listen I'm no expert, but you need to see where this goes. I haven't heard you talk about someone like this since dad. As far as kids and all...I mean he doesn't have to sign his life away. He's an adult, he knows what he's getting into. Besides, I heard more and more young people decide they don't even want kids," Jillian said.
"Yes, but it's not so cut and dry. People often feel one way, then years down the road their mind changes," Mara said. "That may be true mom, but you can't know that will be the case with him." Just then Mara got a text from Wiley. She pulled the phone away to look at it. He said Sam was doing ok and they really needed her to give a statement. "Yeah I know hun, listen they asked me to come down to the police station, just to talk about what happened."
"Mom, are you sure everything's ok?" she asked again. "Yeah, baby it will be. Listen maybe I'll come and see you for a few days. I miss you…" They both said I love you and hung up.
The truth was despite the age difference and his awful mother, the thing that scared Mara the most was the idea of losing Sam. What were the odds that would happen again? But then her mind went back to the nightmare she just had. She shook her head wishing she could shake off the bad dream. Mara went to change and go down to the station.