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When Peg reached the booth, she leaned over and gave Erin a kiss before plopping a newspaper on the table and sliding into the opposite booth. ‘So,’ she said, smiling, ‘were you going to tell me you were going to be all over the newspapers again?’
‘Hi, Mom. Nice to see you too.’
‘Sorry,’ Peg replied sheepishly. ‘Hi, dear. It’s good to see you.’
‘How you feeling?’
‘Actually, for the first time in a long time, I’m feeling pretty good.’
‘That’s nice to hear. You look good,’ Erin said, and she meant it. Her mother did look good. Some of it, Erin knew, was still an illusion – makeup, a wig – but there was an energy coming from her mom that had been missing these many months of treatment. ‘It’s been a long road,’ Erin said.
Her mother’s expression was wistful. ‘Yeah, it has been. Chem
