Cooper frowned. “Is he getting really bad?”
“I don’t know all the details, but I can tell your grandma is getting overwhelmed.”
“I wish they lived closer.” Cooper’s dark brown eyes looked genuinely sympathetic.
“So do I.” Jewel felt bolstered by this response. Maybe this would go over better than expected. “But they don’t. And since we can’t bring them to San Jose, we are going to join them in Oregon.”
“For a visit?” Cooper’s tone turned wary.
“Not exactly.” She braced herself. “We, uh, we’re going to move up there.”
“Move?” Cooper leaped from the stool with wide eyes. “Like permanently?”
Jewel simply nodded, holding on to the edge of the granite countertop as her daughter flew into a tirade. “I can’t believe you’d do this to me, Mom. Have you lost your mind? No way am I moving up to Oregon! I’ve been on the farm before, and it’s, like, in the middle of nowhere. No way can you force me to go. My life is here. In San Jose. My school is here. My friends are here. You can’t just rip me out of—”
“I can, Cooper.” Jewel stood. “I’m your mom.”
Cooper glared at her. “Well, I have a dad too. What will he say about your hauling me up there? I heard you can’t take kids out of the state when you have shared custody. My dad won’t—”
“I’ve already let him know.” Jewel picked up her to-do list and pointed to the third item and the check mark next to it:Inform Rodney about the move. “Your dad is fine with it. In fact, he thought it was a good idea.”
Cooper slammed her fist onto the countertop before letting loose with some expletives Jewel had never heard come out of her little girl’s mouth before. Then Cooper stomped off to her bedroom and slammed the door behind her.
“Well, that was fun,” Jewel muttered as she opened the fridge. Maybe she could distract herself by fixing dinner, except that it was slim pickings in there as usual. She closed the fridge so firmly that the bottles inside rattled. Not that she didn’t enjoy cooking, she just never had the time. Even if she did whip up something amazing, Coop wouldn’t be willing to eat with her now anyway.As Jewel reached for her phone, she doubted that even Coop’s favorite sushi would coax her out of her room. Not for a couple of hours at least. But sushi made for good leftovers. She let out a long, loud sigh as she called to place her order. Single parenting a teenage girl was not for wimps.
Shortly after their takeout arrived, Jewel heard Cooper come out of her bedroom. Had the sushi plan worked after all? Jewel didn’t look behind her as she set the bags on the counter.
“Mom?” Cooper’s voice had a slightly positive tinge to it, or was Jewel just being optimistic?
“Yeah?” She turned to her with a bright smile. “Got sushi.”
“Uh-huh.” Cooper eyed the bags, then turned to her mom. “What about Tony?”
“Tony?” Jewel folded her arms in front of her. Tony was her on-again, off-again boyfriend. Too handsome and charming for his own good and a bit of a narcissist. And yet Jewel had never fully given up on him. Even so, Tony hadn’t even made it onto her to-do list today. Was it oversight or intention? She wasn’t sure. Maybe she didn’t care.
“I thought you were pretty serious about him.” Cooper stepped closer, looking intently into Jewel’s eyes, almost as if she were reaching for a lifeline. “And I know he loves you.”
Jewel couldn’t help but laugh. “Tony loves Tony, Cooper. Sometimes I fit into his world, but never permanently.”
“It’s only because you’re always so busy.” Cooper was not giving up. “Work always distracts you.” She raised a forefinger in victory. “And what about the gallery? It’s been, like, your whole life. Are you just going to walk away from that?”
“Not exactly. I’m selling it. Probably to Jess.” Despite her daughter’s motives, she had to respect the girl for trying, for using her head and persuasion skills. Not that it would do any good. Jewel opened a white carton and sniffed. “Yummy.”
“But the gallery is your everything, Mom. You can’t just give it up. Seriously, sometimes it’s like you love that gallery more than you love me.” Cooper made her best “poor me” face. And maybe she was right about Jewel’s priorities.
“I’m sorry you felt like that, but honestly, it’s not true. You’re far more important than any gallery, Cooper.” Jewel reached out for her, but Cooper pulled away with angry eyes.
“I can’t believe you! You’re just plain selfish. I hate you!” And once again, Cooper stomped off to her room, slamming the door so hard, Jewel braced herself for a call from their neighbor, old Mrs. Curmudgeon-Cunningham. So, okay, this wasn’t going quite as smoothly as Jewel had hoped. She opened another carton, letting out more fragrant aromas of sushi, but her appetite was gone. She put it all in the fridge and picked up her to-do list and stared blankly at it. Her plan was going to work. It had to work. Cooper just needed time to adjust to the idea.
Jewel sat down on her sofa, reading the item on her list that read “get bids from moving companies.” She wondered if moving everything was really such a good idea. All her furnishings fit so perfectly here in the condo. She ran a hand over the creamy white upholstery of her contemporary-styled sofa. And where would she store these pieces on the farm? In the barn where mice and moths could attack? Maybe Monica would like to work out a deal with her. Or maybe Jewel was biting off more than she could chew. It wouldn’t be the first time.
3
Honey
At times, CT seemed almost normal. In those moments, Honey sometimes suffered memory lapses of her own. As a result, she’d spilled the beans that their daughter and granddaughter were coming to Oregon. Her goal had been to cheer him up, but now CT asked, multiple times per day, when they would get here. He always assumed it should be “right now” and spent far too much time gazing out on the driveway. It was ironic how he could forget whether he’d eaten lunch or not, but for whatever reason he did not forget the girls were coming. Maybe he was reading her thoughts. It made no sense, but sometimes it seemed he could do that.
“Are they coming today?” CT asked as she cleared the breakfast table.
