Total pages in book: 60
Estimated words: 56799 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 284(@200wpm)___ 227(@250wpm)___ 189(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 56799 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 284(@200wpm)___ 227(@250wpm)___ 189(@300wpm)
She showed up without calling first and knocked on the front door.
Lizzie greeted her, her eyes wide with surprise. “Fallon! I wasn’t expecting you today.”
Stepping into the house, Fallon pulled the woman into a hug she desperately needed, inhaling her familiar scent that said family to Fallon. Once they’d moved into this home after her mom died, Lizzie had become like a second mother to her and Brooklyn like a sister. She’d listened to Fallon’s teenage angst and dried her tears.
“I’m sorry I canceled last night,” Fallon said, feeling suddenly emotional. A lump rose to her throat and stayed there.
“Honey, you’re allowed. What’s going on?” Lizzie ushered her inside and took her jacket, hanging it in the hall closet.
“Is Dad home?”
“He’s napping in the study but come into the kitchen. Let me make you a cup of tea and we can talk until he wakes up.”
She nodded and swiped at her eyes. “Sorry. I’m all verklempt.” She laughed as she used the Yiddish word for emotional that Lizzie had taught her growing up. Lizzie and Brooklyn were Jewish and she’d learned many fun words with Brooke’s mom around.
“I see that and I want to know why.”
Once in the kitchen, Fallon sat on a barstool and let Lizzie bustle around the large room with state-of-the-art stainless appliances and granite countertops. Her father had said the kitchen was old and needed a remodel but Fallon suspected he was giving Lizzie a place to make her own inside the main house. No doubt her father wanted Lizzie to give up the guesthouse and move in but nobody had mentioned it out loud. Yet.
Lizzie made two cups of tea and placed their vanilla chamomile drink on the counter, followed by milk and sugar, knowing Fallon liked her drink sweet. Though tea was a trigger, with Lizzie she found it soothing, as having Lizzie around lessened the pain of her mother’s passing in some small way. “So. What has you so worked up?” Lizzie asked.
Fallon drew a deep breath and explained what had happened with Clara this morning. “Seeing her lying on the floor, I thought she was dead. And while I waited to hear something in the hospital, I had all these memories of the night Mom died. It was awful.”
“Oh, honey.” Lizzie placed a hand over Fallon’s briefly. “But she’s okay? Your boss?”
Nodding, Fallon forced herself to take a steadying breath. “She is. I still don’t know exactly what happened. Her son should have been with her and wasn’t. She’s been so sick lately. Now they’ll find out what’s wrong.” And hopefully put her on the road to recovery.
She made her tea the way she liked it, adding a healthy drop of milk and two sugars, then took a sip and sighed. “So good. Reminds me of the times you’d make us this same tea when Brooke or I were upset.”
Lizzie smiled. “So much teenage drama with you two.”
They both laughed.
“How’s Dad?” Fallon asked. “When I left the hospital, all I wanted to do was come see him for myself.”
“Oh, Alexander is well behaved at home. It’s the office where I worry. But he looks well. He’s still working too many hours despite Aiden and Jared being there to shoulder the workload.” She lifted her shoulder. “But he wouldn’t be the Alexander we know if he wasn’t trying to do more and act like he’s still a thirty-year-old man.” She shook her head, then lifted her teacup and took a sip.
“Anything else? You still seem so… heavy hearted.”
“Nothing I want to talk about. Brooke and I had a good heart-to-heart last night. I ended up having a drink with her before I went home. And she gave me some good advice. I just need time to figure some things out.”
Lizzie nodded. “You have a good head on your shoulders. You’ll do what’s best.”
“Well, this is a nice surprise!”
At the sound of her father’s voice, Fallon turned. He stood in the entry to the kitchen and she jumped up and hugged him tight. “Hey, Dad.”
“Hey, princess. Are you feeling better?”
She nodded, not wanting to give him anything to worry about. “I just wasn’t up to the trip yesterday. But I’m here now. How are you feeling?” He looked a little tired, definitely thinner, though that was what the doctor ordered. Better eating, better health.
“I’m good. Don’t worry about your old man,” he said.
Laughing, she hit his shoulder. “Don’t call my dad old!”
She spent the rest of the evening with her family, soaking up the goodness and being grateful for what she did have. A call to the hospital told her Clara was improving. And though part of her still thought pulling back from Noah was the smart thing to do, he’d been so kind, rushing out and leaving the girls with his sister to come sit with her at the hospital, she couldn’t do it. Nor did she want to.