Izzy takes a bite of her food and raises one shoulder. “I’m just glad I still have Becca. Hopefully we can just grow old together and be those old ladies who cause havoc around town, flirting with younger men and conning the old ones out of their retirement funds.”
“Oh, Izzy,” Jen says. “You don’t mean that. You’ll find someone.” It’s a very motherly comment, and all three of her daughters have looks of exasperation on their faces.
“Not everyone needs a man to be happy, Mom,” Izzy shoots back.
“No, but having a partner is special. It’s the chocolate kiss on the top of a peanut butter cookie—it’s not necessary, but it sure does make it taste better.”
“Great, now I want a peanut butter blossom,” JT groans. “Any chance that’s what’s for dessert?” He looks eagerly toward the kitchen, scanning the counter for any sign of the cookies.
I join in the laughter at the table, knowing I would’ve agreed with Izzy just a few months ago. But now that I’ve gotten a taste of life with the extra chocolate, I know there’s no way I’m ever going back.
“I’m inclined to agree with Jen,” my mom says, and I can see the look of regret flash across Jen’s face.
I know she didn’t mean anything insulting with her comment, but it’s easy to forget my mom ended up single her entire life. Jen’s life—marrying Ken in her twenties, having three kids, two cars, and one house—didn’t match my mom’s experience with love and partnership.
“It’s not about needing someone—I’m proof of that,” my mom continues, patting Izzy’s hand. “It’s about choosing to share your life with someone who gives you the love and support to be your happiest, best self. I never found that, but if I had, I would’ve grabbed on to it and never let go.”
Izzy nods, her smile softening. “I get it. I’m just not in a rush to find that person.”
“And in the meantime, you can make all the mischief you want with Becca,” Jen jokes. “Though that’s hard to do when you’re in bed by nine every night.”
“I get sleepy,okay?!”
That causes chuckles around the table, and for a moment, the conversation turns lighter again. It’s funny how family can dance around difficult subjects, confronting them while still keeping everything in balance. It’s something I’ve never really experienced with just my mom and me.
I watch them all, the easy flow of conversation, and I feel this pull in my chest. It’s something I never expected to feel—the ache of knowing that, in some ways, I’m more at peace now than I’ve ever been, but that peace comes with a price. It’s not just chocolate and peanut butter that makes life better. It’s love, connection, and finding someone who fits into your world, someone who knows the pieces of you that you thought you’d never share with anyone else and somehow loves those pieces the most.
And maybe that’s what Jen was trying to say: It’s not about the chocolate kiss or the peanut butter cookie—it’s about the new treat they become that’s still peanut butter and still chocolate, and yet, somehow, something so much more.
“All right, enough of this talk,” Jen says, shifting the conversation to a new topic, eager to keep the vibe light. “Let’s focus on what matters now—dessert! Unfortunately, no cookies, but who wants brownies?” She stands, grinning at the chorus of requests.
After we’re all full to the point of exploding, I take my mom home, hugging her a little longer than usual as I drop her off.
“What’s that for?” she asks.
“For putting aside your quest for love to love me instead.”
“There was always space in my heart for all the love I could find. I just wasn’t one of the lucky ones who found my chocolate kiss.” She strokes her thumb over my cheek. “But I’m so glad you are.”
Chapter forty-two
Kelsey
“Whereishe?”Iask Lila, pacing in front of her desk.
“Why couldn’t you do this at your house?” Izzy asks, typing furiously on her computer. “This isn’t your office, you know.”
“I don’t like mixing work and pleasure.”
Her fingers freeze on the keys, a look of pure disbelief on her face. “Didn’t you sleep with the guy you were competing againstwhile working?”
I consider it. “That’s not how I’d describe it, no.”
“But it’s what happened, right? We can all agree on that?”
Ignoring her, I turn back to Lila. “He said he just had to finish up a meeting with one of the potential helpers for his mom at Wild Brews, and then he’d be here.”
“Does Alice really need full-time care already?” Lila asks. “She seemed fine this weekend when we were all at your parents’ house.”
