A week later, Anna drove me to the lawyer's office and waited in the lobby as I answered a full round of questions to build up my case against David. Though they had tried to serve him his papers, his mother said he was in Albuquerque during the week and was only in town during the weekends to be with Michael.

Erik had already been back to work full time three days earlier. Already busy with a full patient load, he also had to take over Serena's administrative obligations.

"You hungry?" Anna asked as she wove the car through rush hour traffic. 

"A little bit," I replied, remembering the sushi tray Doug ordered hours earlier and how I'd managed to eat one roll despite my anxiety at all the forms I had to sign. "Who's watching Michael?"

"Olivia. They're all having dinner at her house. By the way, Michael and I will be doing a sleep over there tonight. The in-laws have never seen Frozen and Olivia begged for me to keep her company before another viewing of the movie drives her crazy."

I chuckled as Anna continued. "Anyway, I thought we could have dinner together."

"Sure, but I really hate to be imposing on everybody," I said. "Is Erik-"

"Erik's fine," Anna said a little too quickly. "It's just dinner, Sam. You and me. And you're going to have to accept the fact that you're imposing on everyone right now because you don't have a choice. I mean that in the best possible way, by the way. So don't be offended. We all want you to get better, and we don't want you re-injuring your hand just to prove to us that you can do things without us."

"Because I can't," I said. "I can't even hook my bra."

"I know you can't," Anna said. "But the world will still go on whether or not you can hook your bra. I'm not going to argue with you, honey."

Dinner was a small hole in the wall restaurant in Lawndale, the next city west of Manhattan Beach. It was an Indian restaurant, and Anna took care of ordering from the menu. I listened to Anna more than I ate, as she told me about how her roommates in L.A. were dealing without her in the house and how Adina was keeping everyone in check. She also missed Adina, she added, who was going to make me a special batch of chechebsa when she'd drop by on Sunday.

I hear Erik's flying to New Mexico tomorrow," she said. "There's some business he has to do there, I think."

I frowned. "I didn't know anything about him flying out, and especially not in Albuquerque."
"Well, I just overheard him say something to Josh about last minute stuff, so it's not like he told me personally. Please don't tell him I told you," she said. "Doesn't David live in Albuquerque part time?"

"He does, but Erik hasn't said anything to me. He wasn't happy hearing David hasn't been served his papers, so I hope he's not taking matters into his hands."

"Not that he can serve those papers in a different state, or can he? Well, when that man of yours is determined, he is determined," Anna said. "But I don't blame him for not wanting David around you again. He did a number on you, Sam."

"I know, but things are getting better, so why worry?"

She shrugged. "I don't know. I'm afraid that David's not done with you yet. Those kind of men usually don't give up power so easily. They want to have the last word."

"He'll never be done with me, mom," I said. "We both have Michael, and until Michael turns eighteen, we'll have to share parenting duties together."

"I understand. Just be careful, okay?"

Just as Anna said, Erik said he was flying to Albuquerque in the morning for some last-minute business. He said it was something he and Josh had to take care of, and that he was also visiting a friend who had a harm reduction clinic in the South Valley. It was the same clinic he'd patterned his clinic after.

"I hope this trip has nothing to do with David, Erik," I said. "Like, you don't plan on serving him his papers, right?'

"I make these trips now and then, and they're mostly day trips unless it's a conference, then it's a few days. I'm sorry I didn't get to tell you sooner."

"Does this have anything to do with some woman named Claudia Grande?" I asked, remembering Collin's story about David's former protege who'd overdosed on heroin.

Erik's frown deepened. "I'll tell you all about it when I get back. It's only a day trip, so I'll be back before six, okay?"

***

By the time I awoke the next morning, Erik was gone, a note telling me how much he loved me lying on the pillow where his head would have been.

My sweetest heart, it read. I miss you already. Your Erik.

As I swung my legs over the side of the bed and sat up, I heard Anna humming Let It Go under her breath as she led Michael into his room to help him change. They were playing their usual game of guess-what-Michael-will-be-wearing-today, and I smiled as I listened to Michael laugh every time Anna guessed one shirt design over the other.

s it going to be the bear shirt? No! The fire truck shirt? No! The train shirt? Yes! Yes! Yes, gramma!

Twenty minutes later, we were all downstairs, getting breakfast ready. It was a routine we all had gotten quite used to, ever since Erik moved us into the house after the accident. Breakfast of cereal or a cheese quesadilla for Michael with his milk, and granola and yogurt for Anna and me, along with a bowl of fruit. Erik usually had an omelet with slices of ham or sausage, and sometimes pancakes, which he ate with Michael.

We usually ate outside on the balcony overlooking the Strand. For Anna, it took some getting used to watching people walk past us, saying hello and some stopping by to chat when they'd see Erik or Olivia, or the kids. Eventually she got used to it, though I did notice how people's gaze would linger a little longer on her, her drawn cheekbones and when she smiled, a missing tooth. I wondered what they thought of her, but at the same time, I knew I shouldn't care. And after a while, I didn't care what they thought, not when I finally had her living with me again, and she was straightening her life out.

"I was thinking," I began, turning to look at Anna. "I want to paint you."

"Me? Why the hell for?"

"Because you're my mother and my friend, that's why," I said. "But I want to capture the light in the old house, in your room."

Anna stared at me, frowning as she seemed to process what I had just said. "Why on earth would you want to go back there and -" She mimicked my voice. "- capture the essence of that place? You've got a great place here."

"That's not what I meant, mom. The light here is sunny," I said. "It's the beach and so it casts this very different glow, almost unrealistic because it hides everything else in its shadows. In the old house, there are more shadows than light, but such arrangement makes the light stand out. It will make you stand out."

"I really should start using smack again if you intend to talk like this, Sam," Anna said and when my eyes widened in anger, she laughed. "Got ya! Have a sense of humor, will you?"

"Did you understand what I just said?" I asked. "I'm serious. It's not to differentiate the worlds of haves and have-nots, mom. It's to capture the reality of each place."

"If the old house is your past and this house is your future, what's your house supposed to mean? Is that the present? Or the in-between of the two?"

I shrugged. "Could be anything. Could be me waiting, not knowing I was lost between both places, the past and the present."

Anna reached across the table to touch my hand. "You've got a gentle soul, Sam," she said. "What you just said, it's like poetry. I would never have expected to produce an artist. But I don't know about you painting me, though. I look like a washed-out drug addict as it is. I'm nothing like the beautiful people that you've painted, and I'm flattered. I am. But that old house is like me. Ancient and decrepit. It's best to let it go and stay where you are. Here. And paint beautiful people instead of me."

"Gramma, pancake!" Michael demanded as he took a whole pancake and tried to stuff it into his mouth. Anna took it from him and sliced it up into bite-sized pieces, telling him to wait till she was finished. There was no point in pursuing the subject, I thought. At least not right now.

"Is David supposed to pick Michael up today?" Anna asked, worry lines crossing her forehead as she pushed Michael's plate towards him.

I shook my head. "Nope. He emailed me and said he's supposed to be in Las Vegas, so I have him this weekend."

"Good," she said. "Have you heard from him since he got served his papers? I'm afraid he's going to lash out at you - or worse, at Michael when he gets him during the weekend. I still can't figure out why he'd steal the property title - and Michael's drawings. I hope he doesn't intend to sell them."

I sighed. Doug's office did their job too efficiently, not giving me time to prepare myself for David's reactions. We filed the lawsuit yesterday and by this morning, David had been served. I hadn't heard from him, and it was one of the reasons I'd been so stressed out yesterday. What would he say? What would he do?

How would he lash out at me for daring to stand up to him?

"Don't say that, Mom," I said. "I've got one more week with Michael, and hopefully, David responds to the lawsuit and we can talk about it in Doug's office."

"I just hope he'll be rational, Sam," Anna said. "Make sure you're not alone when you do talk to him. If he broke your hand before, what's to stop him from doing worse to you?"

I didn't answer. I didn't know what to say. As Michael began eating the slices of pancake on his plate, picking it up with his fingers, we continued to eat our breakfast in silence.

"Tell you what; you let me know when you'd like me to pose for you at the old house and we'll do that, okay?" Anna said just as we finished eating, sipping the last of the coffee before we headed back inside, the day already too hot to be outside. 

"Really?

She chuckled.  "Really.  Then you can paint me like one of your French girls."