"What are you doing here, Jo?" I asked her when we were finally inside the living room.
"Don't call me Jo! I'm your mother. Call me Mom," Jolene shot back.
"You stopped being my Mom a long time ago," I returned fire.
"Oh, quit being so dramatic. I thought adulthood would have tamed that cry-baby spirit of yours but it seems like it's still there," she said.
"What do you want?"
"Nice place you got here. What do you do that enables you to afford such a wonderful space?" She asked casually, ignoring my questions.
She was looking awfully comfortable on my couch and I hoped to God that she wasn't planning on staying with me because that was surely never going to happen. Ken was in the kitchen, acting like she was minding her business but I knew she was listening in. She knew the little I had told her about my Mom and from what I told her, she knew about the tension and the awful dynamic we shared and like the gossip that she was, she wanted to get a taste of it firsthand.
Jo got even more comfortable when she pulled out a bottle of liquor from her back and put her feet up on my table.
"You got a glass for my drink? You know what, never mind. I'll just drink it directly," she said and began chugging at the bottle.
"Got anything to eat?"
"I don't have anything for you to eat," I angrily kicked her feet off the table. "You need to leave."
"Listen, baby. I would love to get out of your hair but I don't have anywhere else to go," she told me.
"What about your husband? Why can't you go to him?" I asked.
"Who, Ron? That piece of shit? After you did what you did to him, he became even more useless than he already was. We got divorced about two years ago and the jerk took my house. Turns out he put everything I owned under his name after we got married and I lost it all in the divorce,"
I nearly lost the top of my head when she told me this. I couldn't believe that she was stupid enough to let a retard like Ron swindle her in such a way. It was clear that she needed my help but I didn't intend to give it in the slightest.
"Here, Miss Jolene," Kendra said from out of nowhere, holding a plate that had a sandwich on it, "I made you a little snack just in case you were hungry."
"Thank you, Doll," Jo said as she took the plate, "You see, Cherilyn? This is how a daughter is supposed to take care of her mother."
Ken sat next to her and I could tell from her posture that she was about to suck up to her. Junkies usually have that mental connection with themselves that draw the younger junkie to the older generation - almost like they are seeking the elders' wisdom on how to be even more fucked up than they already were.
"Oh, Cherry is a good friend...and she takes care of me a lot," Ken said to defend me.
"So, you take care of your friend but you won't take care of your mother. And why is little Miss Sunshine here calling you Cherry? It makes you sound like a prostitute or a stripper or something," Jo said.
Kendra's expression changed, as did mine when she mentioned the word "stripper" and Jo was a quick cat - she noticed!
"Oh my God! You're a stripper?" And she burst into the most annoying laughter I had ever heard, I felt like strangling her.
"I guess the apple doesn't fall far from the tree, huh?" She stood up and started moving around, "Which room am I staying in?"
I didn't know how I was going to deal with this yet but I intended to get her to leave. For now, I had to stay focused and get ready for my show at the club. Today was my last night for three months and nothing could ruin it. It had to be perfect!