All Chapters of The Day You Never Came: Chapter 11 - Chapter 13

After Mom died, reminders of her were everywhere.There was the produce stand where she always shopped, the bus stop where she used to wait for me after school, and the flowering tree outside our building that she loved for its scent.I didn't have the energy to face any of it. I just wanted to go somewhere else and start over.Before I left, I went to Mom's grave.The cemetery was quiet, with only the wind rustling through the trees. I placed a bouquet of lilies at the base of her headstone."Mom, I'm leaving. I'm going somewhere warmer, down south. You always said you wanted to see the ocean after you retired. I'll go see it for you."I sat leaning against her headstone for a while and told her everything.I told her I'd sold the things from the place Isaac and I had planned to live in after the wedding, quit my old job, and signed up for a teacher certification exam.Mom had spent her whole life teaching. I used to tell her the job was too hard. Only now did I understand tha

I simply replied, "Got it."I heard about Jolene through mutual friends.After she was fired, she wasn't doing well. She tried to get a teaching job, but people still talked about what she had done, and she fell apart at every interview.She couldn't bring herself to go back to her old school, and she couldn't stand hearing anyone say her name the way Mom used to.Someone said they felt sorry for her.I didn't respond.Feel sorry for her? What about Mom, lying in that hospital bed waiting for them until the very end? What about me, saying goodbye to Mom alone while I was still wearing my wedding dress?Jolene had made her choices. Now she had to live with the consequences.Another year passed before I finally went back home. It was the anniversary of Mom's death.I brought her favorite lilies and a photo of the ocean down south. She'd never gotten to see it herself, so I'd seen it enough for both of us.The cemetery looked much the same, except the area around Mom's headstone