For the first quarter of a mile, Laura didn’t even feel her feet hit the sidewalk, she was so mortified. She heard the truck pull away behind her and looked resolutely at the horizon. She had made such a fool of herself, as if he would believe she coincidentally happened to be coming out of her room at that exact minute. He must have realized she wanted to talk to him, and did his best to free himself from her nascent stalking. She felt her eyes fill with tears, but she blinked them away and kept running, not slowing down until she was sure she had herself under control.

Even though she was calmer, she was still upset when she walked into her room, and almost without thinking she picked up her phone and called home.

Her grandmother answered, which was a surprise.

“Where’s Mom?” asked Laura.

“Good morning to you, too,” replied her grandmother. “How lovely to hear from you, how kind of you to remember our existence.”

Laura frowned. “I’m sorry, Grandma. Nick showed up here last night and apparently it was Mom’s idea.”

There was a pause.

“Hold on.” Her grandmother clearly held the phone against her chest, because the following conversation was muffled:

Her grandmother’s voice, short, sharp syllables, ending in a rising tone of incredulity.

Her mother’s voice, defensive syllables, tone moving very quickly from I don’t see a problem here to I refuse to see a problem here.

Her grandmother’s voice, one long string of sound that apparently rehashed every recent slight perceived between them, because at the end of it suddenly the sound got clearer and her mother’s voice appeared on the phone.

“Laura?”

“Mom.”

“It was Nick’s idea to visit, I just thought it was a good one.”

“Why?” Somehow the fact that her grandmother had been angry on her behalf had cheered Laura up a bit, and although she was still ticked, she felt better. It’s always reassuring to have backup.

“Because I think you should come home.”

“Well, I don’t think so, and as I am a fully adult human being, my thoughts trump your thoughts when it comes to directing my actions.” Laura was privately proud of getting this sentence out without tripping over her words, but unfortunately her mother was in unyielding mode, which was her default setting.

“You’re not doing very well, Nick says.”

Laura paused. “You already spoke to Nick?”

“He texted me last night.”

Laura closed her eyes, suddenly exhausted. The feeling in her chest when Bob had basically backtracked the kiss welled up again, and she fought down tears. She had started this call willing to fight, but now all she wanted to do was stop talking.

“Mom, I have to go. Please stop interfering in my life, or I won’t invite you to be part of it anymore.”