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“Not his best idea,” Mom said with a wry smile. She took a slow sip of her iced tea, rocking her chair back and forth with a simple push of her foot on the ground. “So that’s one of your cons?” she asked. “The fact that he’s the one watching the house?”
“That’s somewhere in the middle.” Staring down at the list again, I shrugged one shoulder. “I don’t know if it’s a good thing or a bad thing.”
“What else?” she asked gently. Even without saying another word, of course she knew there was more. I’d neverquite understood how they did it, but my parents had this eerie knack for seeing the truth written all over their kids faces. No matter what we got into, no matter what harebrained plans we came up with, no matter what was weighing on our hearts, they could take one look at us and know.
Would I be able to do that?
God, I hoped I could. I hope that was something stamped in my genes, like the hair color from my mom and the smile I got from my dad.
Chewing on my bottom lip, emotions clogging my chest, I handed her the notebook and waited for her to skim through my list.
Pros
Location
Rent is perfect
The house is beautiful
Big backyard
Undecided
Jax’s involvement?
Cons
Leaving Mom alone
“Oh honey,” she said, her eyes glossing over. “You can’t pass this up because of me.”
“When I think about you alone in this big house, I can hardly take it,” I whispered back, voice full of tears. “I don’t want to be the reason you’re sad.”
A single tear slid down her cheek as she turned, clutching my hand with hers. “I won’t be,” she said fiercely. “You haven’t brought me a single moment of sadness since the moment I knew you existed, sweet girl. And that won’t change, not as long as I live.”
“Are you sure?” Hope swelled dangerously, a sweet and cool relief mixed with the bittersweet feeling of inevitable change.
“I’ll miss you,” she admitted, tears falling more freely. “You know I love seeing your face every morning. You’ve taken such good care of me in the last year. I hope you know that. But taking care of you is the most important thing now.”
“Everything’s changing,” I said, voice catching on a sob that threatened to break free.
She leaned forward and cupped the side of my face, swiping her thumb at the tears that coursed down my cheeks. “Life is supposed to change, Poppy. We’re supposed to change with it, too. And I would never expect you or any of your siblings to pass up something meant for you, not because of me. Your dad wouldn’t have either.”
“I know.” I sniffed loudly, dashing a hand over my cheeks.
“Is this what was making it so hard for you?” she asked.
Slowly, I nodded.
As she handed the notebook back, she hummed. “I understand more than you know, sweetheart. The hard decision that should be really easy.”
Studying Mom’s profile, I tried to straighten out my thoughts before I spoke again. “When did that happen to you?”
Her smile was immediate—soft and a little sad. “Giving your father a chance when we first met.”
“Really?”
“Oh yeah. We had more baggage than a 747, Poppy. He buried a wife he loved, all while taking care of those three boys. I had a husband walk out on me and three young kids. You know how hard it is to trust someone with your heart when it’s already been crushed?”
