“I’m going to get up and go inside before I give in to the urge to walk you home and tuck you in.”

“Would that be so bad?”

Paul groaned. “I’m trying to do the right thing here.”

Her fingers slid down his arm to grasp his hand. “I really want you to tuck me in.”

Paul looked at her for a long moment, giving her time to change her mind. “Let me make sure Alex will be here with Mom.”

Chapter 14

Chapter 14

Paul got up and went inside to see what Alex was doing, though part of him didn’t want to know. He encountered his brother in the hallway, wearing only a towel, which was a huge improvement over the night before.

“Hey, bro, what’s up?” Alex said.

“That’s what I was going to ask you.”

“Nothing much. Jenny is over at Erin’s, checking on her after she sprained her ankle. I was going to watch the Sox. You wanna join me?”

“Maybe later. I was going to go to Hope’s for a little while if you’re going to be here with Mom.”

“I’m here and not going anywhere.”

“All right, then. If I don’t see you tonight, I’ll see you in the morning before we leave.”

“Sounds good. You’re practicing safe sex, right?”

“Oh my God. Fuck off, will you?”

Alex bent in half laughing at his own joke.

“You’re such an asshole.”

“Paul Michael Martinez,” Marion yelled from her bedroom. “Watch your language.”

That set Alex off all over again.

This time Paul laughed, too. How could he not laugh at the incredible irony of how his mother’s dementia disappeared whenever one of them swore? “I’m outta here.”

“Mind your manners, Paul Michael.”

Paul flipped his brother the bird on the way to the back door, where Hope waited for him. “Let’s go,” he said.

She got up and went with him across the yard to her cabin. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing. Alex was busting my balls.”

“Are you mad?”

“Nah, it was funny. And then Mom yelled at me for swearing at him. I got the full Paul Michael Martinez.”

“Paul Michael, huh?”

“Yep, and that’s when I know I’m really in trouble. I have to say I love that the dementia goes away at the strangest of times, and then she becomes Mom again.”

“And then Mom disappears into the dementia, and your heart breaks.”

“Yeah.”

She closed the door behind them and turned to him, sliding her hands from his chest up to encircle his neck. “I’m sorry you have to go through that so many times each day.”

“I’m sorry she does. She’s sixty-two years old and could live like this for decades. It’s so unfair.”

“It really is.”