Her Mom was shaking, slightly but enough for her daughter to notice. Kerry put her coffee on the dresser and sat to the right of her Mom, pulling her close and kissing the towel circling her hair.
“Kerry, I don’t know about this.”
“What ‘this’ Mom?”
“All of it.” Her voice was soft and her hands were waving. “It’s too much. All of it. I know it’ll just come crashing down the way it did in Chicago. It’s too much. I don’t deserve any of it. I don’t deserve Tommy. I don’t deserve you. I don’t—”
“Mom, we don’t have time to go through all the people you don’t deserve.” And she gave an extra squeeze before pushing away so she could turn to look at her.