“Ma, we FaceTimed just the other day.”
“FaceTime is not the same as seeing you in person, but we’ll get to that later,” she said, waving her hand dismissively.
I pulled out a stool from the island and sat down, admiring the remodeling work. They’d knocked out the back wall, extending the size of the kitchen and installed the island, put all new built-in appliances, and an overhead rack where my mom stored her pots and pans. For the life of me, I couldn’t figure out why she wanted the overhead rack, as short as she was, but she wanted it. Wasn’t my job to say anything, just sign the checks, but it did come out great. My mom was an excellent cook and for years had wanted a bigger kitchen, although she refused to do any renovating herself or let me purchase her a bigger home. It’d taken years to convince her to let me do the damn remodeling. My current home could fit two or three of her homes inside, but she still worried about my pockets no matter how much I told her I could afford to give her whatever she wanted.
“My week’s been pretty good. I got my hair dyed and trimmed with Judy earlier this week,” she informed me, patting the sides of her twist out. “I considered letting the gray just come in and do its thing, but forget all that aging gracefully nonsense.” We both laughed. “I figure when I turn seventy is when I’ll finally stop dyeing. Work was busy as usual. We took on a new client who’s going through an audit, so they were freaking out. With good reason too, the IRS is coming for them hard. And the SEC. It’s going to be a mess for the next couple of months, and then we have to start getting ready for tax season. Oh, and I went out with Todd again this week.”
I gave her a curious look at that last statement. She turned and moved to the stove when the tea kettle began whistling. Todd was a man she’d been seeing for a couple of weeks now. It wasn’t the fact that she was seeing someone. It was the little twinkle in her eye that she got when talking about him.
They’d met at work. He was the owner of a landscaping company and used her firm to handle his taxes and investments. That was what she’d told me of him so far, but I made a mental note to have a guy I know run a background check on this Todd.
“I’d like you to meet him.”
I looked up at my mother, surprised. “It’s that serious, huh?”
“I think so.”
“If it’s that serious to you, then I definitely would like to meet him.” I made a mental note to step up that background check.
“Honey?” my mother asked, grabbing my attention.
I looked up to see her holding a jar of raw honey.
I took it. “Thanks, Ma.” We let our teabags seep in relative silence for a few minutes.
“Now.” My mother brought her teacup to her lips. “Wanna tell me why you’re over my place at close to ten o’clock at night instead of with, oh I don’t know, that lovely woman you’ve been getting cozy with over the last few months? The one who also happens to be the younger sister of your best friend?”
I smirked and shook my head, but not in an amused way. “You should look up the definition of subtlety, Ma.”
“What for?” She gave me a look, daring me to answer.
“No reason at all. And to answer your original question, Chanel and I are, uh, on a break.”
“A break? What does that even mean?”
I rubbed my hand down the side of my face and over my jaw. “It’s a long story.”
“I’ve got nothing but time,” she stated, bringing her tea cup to her mouth.
I snorted, shaking my head and sighed. “Well, I’m assuming you saw that article that came out about her ex.”
My mother nodded.
“Yeah, well, that shit pissed me off, and I ended up walking out on her. That was the last time we’ve spoken. Until today, that is.”
“Wait, you walked out on her because you found out her ex-fiancé hit her?” The way she tilted her head and lowered her eyelids made me feel like shit.
“Damn, Ma, you’re making me feel like an asshole.”
“That’s an asshole move.”
That’s my mother. She was loving when she needed to be, but pulled no punches when needed either.
“Thanks,” I added sarcastically. “But that wasn’t why I walked out. I could understand why Chanel kept her past a secret.” Hell, I saw the shame in her eyes when she saw that article. “It was the idea of her seeing himagainand putting herself in danger like that, and with her clients. She was almost killed by a madman who murdered his own family. How the hell could she be that damn careless?” My fists tightened reflexively as the image of Chanel sitting across the table from her ex, their hands in one another's. That shit made me squirm in my seat.
My mother stared at me over the brim of her teacup for a long while. “You sure you’re talking about Chanel?”
My eyes shot back to hers. I didn’t even bother to reply to that statement, and thankfully my mother didn’t push that issue any further.
