She blinks fast, nods once, firm. “Then make it nice.”
Paige closes her notebook. “Done.”
Lena starts packing up. “And do not say a word about the dress, you’re wearing it.”
Mama sighs dramatically. “That dress is too young for me.”
Trace answers without missing a beat. “No such thing.”
She waves him off, but she’s smiling hard now.
One by one, everybody leaves, Paige and Lena to the barn, Trace out to the pasture. He gives me a look on his way out and it has enough heat in it to make me blush and then he’s gone.
The screen door shuts behind Paige and Lena and suddenly the house goes quiet. The kind of quiet that makes it way too obvious I’m alone with my mother and there is no one left to hide behind.
Mama flips through a stack of papers like she’s checking something, but she’s not checking a damn thing. She’s waiting. I know that posture.
Then she says it, casually, like she’s commenting on the weather.
“You’re in love.”
My whole brain misfires.
“Who?”
It comes out way too fast. Like I really don’t know what planet I’m on.
She lifts her eyes just enough to let me know she heard all that panic. “Baby, don’t play with me.”
“I’m not— I mean— I don’t— nobody said— love?” I wave a hand like maybe I can erase the word from the air. “I am single. Very single. Nobody is loving anybody. Not a soul.”
She just stares.
I keep going because silence feels like death. “I go to work. I go home. I mind my business. I don’t even know what you’re talking about.”
She raises one eyebrow. The eyebrow that has ended wars.
“Oh. So the glow is from… vitamins.”
I open my mouth. Nothing comes out. Great.
“And the smile you’ve been walking around with is from… the weather.”
“Wyoming has nice skies!” I throw out, desperate.
“And that little extra sway in your hips is because… your knee is acting up.”
I gasp. “I have not been swaying!”
She makes a face like, girl please.
I collapse back in my chair and cover my face. “You are unbearable.”
She laughs and scoots her chair closer. “You can lie to the whole state if you want to. You can lie to the horses. You can lieto that man if that’s the game you want to play. But don’t lie to me.”
I peek through my fingers and she softens, really softens.
“Baby… I’m happy for you.”
