Total pages in book: 105
Estimated words: 99494 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 497(@200wpm)___ 398(@250wpm)___ 332(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 99494 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 497(@200wpm)___ 398(@250wpm)___ 332(@300wpm)
“Hey, Mom.” I smile, taking her in as I rub the top of Max’s head.
My mom had me when she was forty-two and is now seventy, and even though she is active and in good health, her age is showing. And not just in her hair that she gave up coloring years ago that’s now a beautiful silver with white highlights, nor the laugh lines around her eyes and mouth. But the way she moves has changed, she’s slowed and gotten more careful.
And that is the real reason I decided to move back to Tennessee. Because my parents are both getting up there in age. My dad is already seventy-four, and I know logically I only have a few more years with them, and I don’t want to have any regrets. I also don’t want to be hundreds of miles away if they need me for any reason or know that I only saw them a couple of times a year when my schedule allowed or when Mom was up for taking the drive to Chicago to come see me, something my parents rarely did because my Mom is terrified of flying.
Plus, the timing was perfect since my lease was up for the apartment I was renting, and I was in the process of looking for a new job, so I felt like it was kismet.
“This is a nice surprise.” Mom smiles, stepping down off the porch. “I didn’t know you were coming by.”
“I just wanted to bring you some stuff from the spa and to check on you guys.” I leave Max and meet her at the bottom step, accepting a kiss to my cheek. “Where’s Dad?”
“Still out and about. He should be home soon.” She opens the screen door to the house and holds it for me. “I made chicken potpie for dinner. Do you want to stick around and eat with Dad and me?”
“I’d like that.” I follow her inside, and just like every time I come home, I feel as if I’ve been teleported back to my childhood. Nothing has changed over the years. All of Liam’s and my old school pictures are still hanging on the walls in chronological order. The blanket I used to curl up under to read is still on the back of the couch. And all of my beloved books are still lining the shelves in the living room. The only difference is that there is more stuff. Boxes and bags of food line the walls to be taken to the local food bank, and other garbage bags are stuffed full of clothes to be dropped off at whatever charity my mom’s church is donating to. And since Mom coordinates all of that stuff, everyone brings all their items to her house each week so she can distribute it all.
“So tell me about your new job. Do you like it?” Mom looks at me over her shoulder as I follow her down the hall to the kitchen.
“I do. The girls I work with all seem really nice, and even though it’s a much smaller practice than where I was working in Chicago, they seem to be pretty busy, which is good.” I drop my stuff on the dining table that is just off the kitchen.
“And your room at Kourtney’s?”
“It’s just a room.” I shrug.
Her eyes come to me over her shoulder once again as she opens the fridge. “You could have stayed in your room here.”
“I know, and Liam said the same thing, but neither of you really have space for me and all my stuff.”
“We would have made room for you, the same way we would have made room for you so you wouldn’t have to stay with Liam in his RV.”
“I know, but you know Dad.” I walk into the kitchen and lean against the counter next to the stove. “The minute I moved in, he would have given me a curfew and a strict bedtime of nine o’clock on weeknights. It was bad enough with Liam calling to ask me where I was and what I was doing if I wasn’t home when he got there.”
Laughing, she carries the pitcher of iced tea she brought out of the fridge to the counter and then gets down two glasses from the cabinet. “No matter how old you get, you’ll always be the baby.”
“Which is why I can’t live with you and Dad or with Liam,” I point out as she hands me a glass of sweet tea, and I take a sip. To this day, my mom still makes the best sun tea I’ve ever had. The secret is she lets the tea sit outside in the sun for a whole day in a glass jar that was passed down to her from her mom, and my great-grandmother before her.