That was what I needed. A due date. A timeline for ending this crazy mind game. I could figure out whether I was falling for him or falling for more of my old bullshit.
"If that's what you need, Annie, that's what you'll get," Jackson said, patting my backside.
Goddamn. I wanted this to be real. I wanted it more than anything.
16
Beating
v. The process of thoroughly combining ingredients and incorporating air to make cakes light and fluffy.
Jackson
I was drinkingcoffee in my kitchen, my feet bare and shirt draped over the back of a chair when my phone vibrated across the countertop. Even though Talbott's Cove was a town built on early mornings, only a few people would call me at this hour. Either there was an emergency or my mother wanted to chat.
A quick glance at the screen informed me there was no emergency.
"Hi, Mom," I said between sips. "Up with the roosters as always?"
"I'll sleep when I'm dead," she replied. "There's no sense lazing about. I just don't understand what peopledoin bed all morning. I can't lie there while the sun shines."
"Don't I know it," I murmured. "Since the sun has been shining for"—I glanced at my watch—"twenty minutes, what kind of trouble have you found for yourself today?"
"I don't find trouble, Jackson," she said, immediately impatient with me. "Trouble finds me."
"Don't I know it," I repeated.
My mother was born with the energy of ten rabbits, the work ethic of five horses, and the strength of two oxen. It sounded hyperbolic but it was the straight truth. Bonnie Lau was incapable of slacking off. She kept a garden that most considered a small farm, worked as a certified nursing assistant at an assisted living facility outside Albany, and regularly volunteered for a dozen or so charitable organizations. Meals for shut-ins, rides for veterans, knitted caps for preemies—she did it all.
"Well, I just talked to your sister," Mom announced, a pinch of purpose in her voice. She was in family update mode. That was preferable to interrogation mode. "Rachel decided to extend her stay in Belize through the new year and will be joining Teach For America next summer."
"Are we sure she's in the Peace Corps and not just chilling on a beach in Belize?" I teased. "If I was in Belize, I'd be on the beach."
"She's involved in important community health outreach programs," my mother replied.
"Of course," I continued, still ribbing her about Rachel's yearlong visit to Central America. My younger sister shared my mother's boundless energy and drive to do good, but she also had a touch of wanderlust. "And sneaking in a bit of beach time. Who wouldn't?"
"It's a good thing you're my favorite son," she said. "I wouldn't put up with this malarkey if you weren't."
"Only son, Mom," I replied. "I'm your only son."
I took another sip of my coffee while I prowled through the refrigerator for something to eat. If only I had some scones or donut holes…and an equally delicious woman to share them with. Unfortunately, that woman didn't enjoy spending the night here. Which wasn't to say she didn't visit. No, she was here almost every evening. She'd come over and I'd defile her on any solid surface we could find, and then we'd cook dinner together and she'd bake. But she always left at the end of the night.
She was immune to all persuasion efforts, even ones that included me on my knees with my head under her skirt. She wasn't having it and I accepted that as another one of her craggy boundaries I wasn't to cross. Even if we'd been going about the sex-dinner-baking-no-sleepovers routine for more than a month now, it was more important for me to keep Annette in my life than break through that boundary. She'd come around in good time, I was sure of it.
"Like I said," Mom countered. "We'll have a party for Rachel when she comes home next spring. I hope you can sneak away from Maine for a few days but I understand if you can't."
I settled on a banana and resolved to bring lunch to Annette this afternoon. Given some of my meetings at the county and late conference calls, it was going to be a late lunch if I could call it that. Then, I'd bring her home with me and take another run at those peach scones.
"As soon as you give me a timeframe narrower than 'next spring,' I'll put it on my calendar. Shouldn't be a problem."
I hesitated, wanting to add that I'd be bringing a date to Rachel's party. But that was a gamble, one I wasn't certain I wanted to take. I was all for confidence but I knew my limits. Even if Annette and I found a rhythm that worked for us, it didn't mean she wanted to drive down to New York and meet my entire family.
"Might as well spit it out," Mom said. "I can hear you hemming and hawing from three hundred miles away."
"I met," I started, uncertain, "I met someone." Mom paused for a moment, drawing in a breath as if she was about to speak but then stopping and humming to herself. "What? Is it that unfathomable?"
"No, notunfathomable," she said slowly. "Just surprising. The last time we talked, you said you weren't looking."
