Total pages in book: 63
Estimated words: 57043 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 285(@200wpm)___ 228(@250wpm)___ 190(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 57043 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 285(@200wpm)___ 228(@250wpm)___ 190(@300wpm)
I don’t know how I could have survived this year without him.
It feels so surreal in this moment. Imagining where we were just a year ago. His mom is genuinely thrilled about being able to eat in the dining room, and I can see why. It has beautiful bay windows that look out over the front yard and a dark wood credenza to store the serving dishes, and everything about it feels warm and homey. It doesn't have a fireplace, but it feels like it could.
Honestly, it feels like something out of a movie, or a book about the perfect Christmas. I keep catching myself smiling at the smallest of things. It's like my life could be a dream. Although it doesn't feel like I'll wake up. It feels real.
How did I get so lucky that this is my life? How did I get lucky enough for a man like Griffin to come to my hometown, see me at my worse and still love me? We went public, so to speak, the very week after he found out everything. I didn’t have much of a choice, to be fair. Griffin said he’d fix it and asked me to simply let him.
So I did. And I haven’t seen my father since, although I know he works two states over now.
I don't know what, exactly, Robert did, but I know he was involved. Same with Griffin’s father, who smiles so politely and has the most contagious laugh. Word around town was that I started dating Griffin, Griffin found something out and poof my father was stationed states away and there was a protective order granted for my mother.
I’m not sure that’s exactly how it happened. and I’ve never wanted to ask about the details. All I know is that my mother is safe, I’m safe, and the last year of my life has been transformative. Therapy helps with that too.
It’s not to say there weren’t bumps in the road. I still have my moments, even though I’ve forgiven myself for so many things that were so hard to let go of. I’m working through a lot with my mother too; she wants us to be in a better place after everything happened the year before and I want that too. I love her and she loves me and life dealt us both a less than easy hand.
There was a lot of paperwork for my mother and way too many meetings at the lawyer's office. I didn't go to all of them, because my mom suddenly had twice the support she usually does, but it all worked out. Knowing he’s gone makes coping through a lot of difficult memories much easier and more manageable.
And my mom and her sister are having the best time living together. Mom doesn’t want to date and she’s still getting on her feet, but she’s finally free of a life that kept her down for way too long. It’s a different kind of happily ever after, but it’s the kind that has her smiling so much, the wrinkles around her eyes are more pronounced. But as she tells me all the time, she’s earned them. Every laugh line was hard fought.
It's everything I could have hoped she'd have. My aunt even found her a job at the local library coordinating the different activity groups that use the meeting rooms there. She helps them come up with events and makes sure there aren't any scheduling conflicts and even sits in on the weekly knitting group meeting. My mom doesn't knit, but she says those ladies know all the gossip that goes on in the town, so it's an easy way to get her bearings.
"You just like gossip," I teased her when she told me. "You want everybody's latest news."
"I love gossip," my mom admitted, her eyes shining as she joked. "I should have been more of a gossip before."
"You'll have to put in extra work and catch up," I joked.
Glasses raise in cheers at the table as Griffin’s mom tells everyone to dig in. My mother sits across from me at the table, her eyebrows raised in excitement as she tells something to Griffin’s mom in a hushed voice and the two of them laugh. They’ve become such good friends. Between us, we have three towns to catch each other up on. I don't think anybody's going to miss out on good old-fashioned gossip at this meal.
I twirl my fork, not paying attention to my dinner, but trying to get caught up in the story my mom's telling to Griffin's mom, who laughs her way through it.
Griffin gently nudges me with his elbow. "Hey."
"Hey," I say back, matching his down-low tone. He's got a forkful of potatoes, and he's grinning at me. "Is everything okay?" I ask when he doesn’t say anything else.