Delayed by Nathan Kingsly (best manga ereader txt) 📕

is your mom. Loving someone isn't always easy, but it's always worth it. She might be angry with me right now, might even pay for it, but that's not going to stop her from forgiving me. She loves me despite it, all the things I’ve done and all I’ll do. I don’t know about you, but I’d be a poor man if I didn’t know this kind of love. I’d be even poorer not to have the privilege of calling her mine.

Now that I can see it, I'm lighter, more at ease that I have direction and purpose. Now, I have to prove I’m worthy.

“Liam?” My mother brings me out of my thoughts. “Where were you just now?"

In a little hotel, where I found my life.

"Figuring out where to start. Do you have a computer?”

“I don't, but your sister does.”

“Sorry, that's what I meant.” Even if she had a place of her own, there wouldn’t be much to put in it. There wasn’t money to keep the house and pay for her medical bills at the same time. Thankfully, I’d been here for that and was able to pack and store most of her personal effects, though she no longer has furniture or a home to call her own. Depending on what she wants, I might find her someplace close to me. “Where is it?”

“In her office.”

Following her up the stairs and down one of the hallways, she comes to a plain white room: a computer and a simple writing desk, the center point. I sit down in the chair in front of the desk. The computer screen lights up with a touch of the mouse, and I have to remind myself to reprimand Mia for not having a passcode to get in.

When I look back to thank my mom, she's gone. Shrugging, I turn back to the screen and pull up an internet browser.

First work; second a place to live, then school.

I'm not sure how long I stay in this position, hunched over, shoulders tight, and my hand about to get carpal tunnel from the repetitive motion of going from the mouse to the keyboard every few minutes. My eyes sting, and my back aches when I jump in the seat. Turning around, I find my sister fuming at the door.

“What are you doing in here? I didn't say you could use my stuff. I'm barely allowing you in the house.”

“As if you would have said yes, and I needed it.” Get us in a room together, and we turn back into bickering teenagers.

She starts to open her mouth, but I let out a whole-body sigh. “Look, I know you're not happy with me, and I know you don't want me here. Believe me; you have made that abundantly clear. However, part of finding my way out of this house is to allow me to find a place to live.”

“A place to live? What do you mean?”

“You know, a place to hang your hat.” Her mouth twists at my sarcasm. “If I haven't already made this clear, I'm here to stay. Maybe not in this house, maybe not even in this neighborhood, but close enough to where I can walk from there to here.”

Her shoulders come away from her ears, and one of her eyebrows lifts. “Are you serious?”

“That's what I've been trying to tell you.” When it's clear after a minute that she's not going to say anything else, I continue. “So Mia, may I please use your computer and live in your house until I can get things established to move out?” I force myself not to roll my eyes and do my best to sound sincere.

She squints at me, scanning, and then crosses her arms over her chest. “Fine, but you buy your own groceries, and you're going to pay some rent.”

It's not like I spend money on anything that I don't need. I have plenty of money in my bank account. “Fine.”

She gives me a weird look and then flips her hair over her shoulder before stomping out of the room.

Alright then. Turning back around to the computer, I continue my search.

I’d already sent my resume to several job listings nearby. With any luck, I will hear back in the next few days. The call I made to Brian last night set things in motion, and my heart speeds up thinking about how far I’ve come even since then. During my internet search, I called Charles to let him know that I won’t be coming back. He didn’t ask for an explanation, just enough to fill out the paperwork and for an address to send my last check. My bank doesn’t have a branch here, and I will need to transfer funds when I can.

As for finding a place to live, there are no apartment complexes anywhere nearby. In a way, I’m lucky to have been a recluse, and I have plenty of money to invest in finding a place to live with the potential to grow roots. The only problem as I look through the listings is I don’t know where Emma has taken root and if she’d be willing to take a shovel to transport them, to co-mingle with mine. My chest tightens. If I commit here, and after I find her, she doesn’t want the same thing, what will I do then?

Leaning back in the chair, I decided to stop for the night. Locking the computer and pushing away from the desk, I head downstairs for the bag I left outside. When I open the screen door and find it’s no longer there, I go hunting. I find it lying by the couch, a pillow and blanket folded on one side. It’s only then that I decide to check the time. I’d spent all day up there, and my stomach growls at the neglect as it realizes it too.

Recalling what Mia said earlier about groceries, I will face her wrath in the morning for making myself something, but when I come to