“Now I can’t remember. God, time moves like a son of a bitch.”
“Mom,” I scolded for the language.
At least my better assumptions about Levi were right. He wasn’t the strip-club-voyeur she’d accused him of being. This was how rumors got started.
Her eyes cut to Max who stared at her with an open mouth. “Sorry, baby.”
He turned his wide eyes on me and I knew I had to cover for her bad mouth yet again. “She didn’t mean it. Go get the cuss jar. She can pay for this one.”
He ran off to his room to retrieve the mason jar I’d labeled the cuss jar years ago. It was the jar that was going to send him to college one day for all the money my mom dumped inside. Full ride probably. Anywhere he’d like to go.
Ivy League? Sure. Why not?Grandma can’t hold back her bevvy of F words so the world is your oyster, Max.
“Anyway,” she continued, casually pulling her wallet out of her tattered purse. She always had a stack of one-dollar bills on her. Since I was a child, I could remember her pulling out her glitter smattered roll of small bills. They fascinated me as a kid. I could never figure out how so many individual bills amounted to so little. Now, as an adult, they gross me out. But like I said, I was shooting for Max to go to Harvard, so we’d take all the stripper money we could get our greedy hands on. “This Cole kid coming back has kicked up quite a stir. You’d think Jesus was riding in on a donkey for all the excitement buzzing around town.”
“Yeah, I heard all about it at Rosie’s. Something about his parents finally convincing him to take over the family farm. RJ doesn’t think he’s up to task. Says, he’ll tank the company in one year and then Darcy and Rich will have to retire next door to us.”
My mom grunted a laugh. “RJ has always hated the Cole family. He’s intimidated by them.”
It was hard for me to imagine RJ intimidated by anyone, even a family with a farm the size of the Cole’s.
RJ was confident in his farm operation. He’d told me several times how he was happy to keep it small enough, so he could still work it, but big enough to give his family a future.
I’d always loved his answer. It was one I could relate to. Clearly, I wasn’t after fame and fortune. But it would be nice to not have to worry about every single little thing. Dreading the days when Max outgrew every piece of clothing and pair of shoes and needed bigger sizes. Or fearing the orthodontist if the discussion of braces started getting thrown around. I was already stressed out about the Halloween party because I didn’t know how much volunteering would cost me.
It was only the middle of September, but I knew I had to start putting away a little bit every paycheck, so I would have something extra if Jamie suddenly asked me to purchase all the treat bag paraphernalia or juice boxes for the entire school.
“You look tired, baby,” Mom commented. “Hard day at work?”
“Just a hard day.” I sighed and slid onto the stool beside her.
“Don’t you hate how many of those there are?” she asked, her eyes glittering with mischief. “This grown-up thing is for the birds.”
“Amen.”
Max returned with the cuss jar. “Two dollars, Grammy.”
“Two dollars?” she gasped.
He grinned at her. “The F word is five! You’re getting a bargain.”
We laughed at my crazy, smart, ridiculous kid. He’d been the one to decide the varying degrees of fines. On one hand, I knew I should be a better mom and protect him from all these words to begin with. On the other, I knew it was more important to raise him the right way than to always put him in the right situations. I couldn’t possibly control every single thing he’s exposed to during our lifetimes. But I could help him become the best man possible. I could teach him through the hard and awkward and awful situations and help him become kind and honest, loyal and giving.
Or, at least that’s what I hoped to do.
“I guess I am.” My mom laughed.
“What about homework, little man?” I asked him after he’d collected my mom’s money.
He made a frustrated sound. “Maybe, I don’t know.”
Pulling out his folder, I dove into the after-school mom responsibilities I knew so well. It was weird that Jamie had invited us over for a playdate. But it was even weirder that Levi Cole was coming back.
What did he want here?
How long was he going to stay?
Not that it mattered to me. I planned to ignore him, remember?
