“Kevin!” Joey called out, but to no avail. Joey sank back onto his mound of pillows in defeat.
“Oy, what’s the hurry with him?” his mother’s voice broke into Joey’s self-pitying thoughts. “He always struck me as such a highly strung little thing.” She advanced into the room and kissed Joey’s cheek. “Bubele, what’s the matter?”
Joey stared at the concerned face of his mother. She had a bloody cheek to do the concerned parent routine, given how it was all her fault he was in this mess in the first place.
Recapturing some of the anger that had blazed through him on Christmas Day, Joey said, “That, Ma, was the one good thing that’s ever happened to me. And because of your f*****g constant meddling, I had to let him go.”
His mother took a step back, covering her mouth with her hand in sh
