Burning for You (Blackwater) Read Free Page B

healthy BMI.  I’m just not a teenager anymore.”
    She ignores me.  “I know you’re
having a rough time, but it’s important that you eat well and stay active now
that you’re planning to be single again.”
    “Mom, I’m a size six.  That’s
hardly fat.  And I run practically every day if I have time.”  My mother never
seemed to understand that while she and Heidi are wispy women, I’m actually
curvy.  It definitely shows in all of the right places, but clothes have always
been a problem to fit correctly.  Running sometimes requires multiple bras,
depending on what time of the month it is.
    She points her plastic fork over to
the wall where a wedding picture of Heidi and her husband Jack hangs.  “Your
sister is two years older than you and can wear a size two!  Imagine that!”
    “Mom, Heidi is anorexic.  She
doesn’t get points for that.”
    “Leah,” she says in a warning
tone.  “Your sister does not have an eating disorder.  It’s not her fault she
has a sensitive stomach.”
    Coincidentally after every meal, I
think to myself.  I know it’s futile to argue with her, though, so I keep my
mouth shut.  It’s as though she’s purposely trying to drive me crazy.  She
always seemed to antagonize me when I lived at home, and it’s apparent that as
an adult, she won’t treat me any differently.  Carlton rubs himself against my
legs, purring and letting me know that while I am not in the mood for dinner,
he would prefer not to skip a meal.  I help myself to a dish from a cabinet and
reach in my purse for a can of cat food and pop it open.  My mother’s nose
turns up instantly.
    “Honestly Leah, with your asthma,
it’s a wonder you don’t get rid of that cat,” she points out.  “It’s almost
like smoking a cigarette.”
    “Carlton doesn’t bother me, do you
Carlton?” I say, stooping down to give him his dinner.  I tip the solidified
gelatinous blob of wet food onto the plate from my mother’s cabinet.  He lets
me pet him for a few seconds as he digs in but gives me a “bitch, I’m hungry”
look with a low growl and I leave him alone.  “I know how you feel about cats,
Mother, and I promise that first thing tomorrow I will be looking for my own
apartment.”
    “Oh, you don’t have to do that,
Leah,” she says in a hollow way, but I’m secretly relieved to hear it.  I’m
flat broke and I’m not too sure about my job prospects right now.  “Stay as
long as you need to.  Why get something as permanent as an apartment when you
might not stay in Blackwater for very long?”
    I glare at her, immediately
suspicious.  “Why wouldn’t I stay in Blackwater for very long?”
    She fidgets with her hair in the
back of her head, even though it hasn’t moved since 1986.  “Your divorce isn’t
final, which means Michael might take you back.”
    I sigh loudly and do everything in
my power not to reach across the counter and slap her.  “Mother, I will be
signing divorce papers within the week.  Michael doesn’t want me back and has
it occurred to you that perhaps I don’t want him back?  Why does it seem like
you’ve never wanted me to stay in Blackwater?”
    She freezes.  “Leah, I never-“
      “You’ve been driving me out since
before I left, and it worked once, and I was happy, but guess what?  I failed. 
I failed at marriage, like you did with Dad.”
    “That’s enough, Leah!”
    I pause, chewing on the inside of
my cheek in frustration.  “I’m sorry Mother.  I’m tired.  I’m upset.  I should
probably just go to bed.”
    “Perhaps you should,” is all she
says, which makes me want to throw her Lean Cuisine at the white wall. 
Avoiding conflict as usual, I can always count on my mother for that.  “Why
don’t you set up in your old bedroom for tonight and you can decide whether
it’s comfortable or not.  Heidi’s mattress is nicer, I know, and since she’s
not using it, perhaps you might want to switch to her room.”
    “My old