C17 Happy Birthday

Eva

I get home by the time it’s 2pm. Damn it. Kind of. Because I can’t really bring myself to be upset about it. I am just trying to prepare for the nagging I guess it’s coming. Unless my mom’s sleeping. And she isn’t. She’s sitting at the kitchen table, smoking. I pause, and she doesn’t look up once I’m standing at the entrance door.

“Hey, Mom?”

My mother then looks up