She dipped her toes into the steaming pool of water.
Bobby had always loved it when she brought him to the jacuzzi. They would often make midnight excursions to this happy spot, just a few minutes walk from their cozy townhouse, yet miles from where their anxieties had lain. Usually, she would begin by asking Bobby how his day was. His day was always “great.” Nothing more, nothing less. Just great. Naturally, she would probe what little she could out of her stubborn son, and he would toy with her, preparing to pull out his ace card at any minute…
“How was your day, sweetheart?” she had said.
“Great,” croaked the pubescent eighth-grader.
“Oh really? So no different from yesterday, or the day before, or the day before that?”
She had wanted to make it clear to Bobby that she was getting agitated. But Bobby had soaked it all up.
“Well, I gotta say, today was a lot better than yesterday…or the day before that.”
She had leaned forward in her chair, preparing for the kill, “How so?”
“For one thing, I got back my English quiz…”
“And how’d you do?”
Bobby had almost cracked before he said it, “Great.”
He could feel the intense suspense with which he had held his mother evaporate as her expression turned to exasperation.
“But you know what?” he had added, “I’ll show ya the results if you take me to the hot tub!”
“That’s not fair!” she had retorted. “That’s like- like….” she was searching for a word on the tip of her tongue…
Blackmail. Yeah, that’s what it was. She hadn’t said it then, but she knew it now. Oh God, he was a smart kid, always knowing how to get on her nerves one minute and then make her feel like the luckiest mom the next.
She was now fully submerged in the water, with her chin barely peeking above surface level. She breathed in the rising steam and exhaled, fighting the tense knot in her throat.
The heat was unbearable and she could sense the edges of her vision starting to blur, but that was okay. She’d be with Bobby soon.
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