“Brady!” My mom’s relieved voice comes through. “Oh, good. I’m glad you answered.”
“Everything okay?”
“Yes, why?”
I’m thankful she can’t see my eye roll. My mom has a tendency to make everything seem like a big deal. Apparently me not answering yesterday qualifies as such.
Instead of answering her question, I ask how my dad’s doing. Since retiring from the bench, he spends his days golfing and napping.
“He’s good. Finished with his morning round of golf and now he’s sleeping on the couch. He was going to sleep by the pool, but it’s too hot.”
“It’s June, Mom. Isn’t it time for you to leave Agua Mesa? You’ve got to be the last snowbirds there by now.” I grin, knowing how my mom gets irritated when she’s called a snowbird. I don’t know why it bothers her. My parents are the exact definition of a snowbird. They spend the winter in Agua Mesa and the summers in Chicago. It doesn’t get any more snowbird than that.
“We’re leaving for Europe at the end of this week, and then we’ll go back to Chicago. I was calling to see if I could talk you into coming with us across the pond.” She draws out the wordpond, trying to make it sound enticing.
And it is. I consider it for all of three seconds before I shake my head. “No, thanks, Mom. I’m doing my thing here.”
She snorts. It’s not a sound she makes often. Too indelicate for her. “In Lonesome, Oregon? Brady, please.”
Herpleaseis not a request but an exasperation.
“I’m serious, Mom. I’m good here.”
“You only have that place for a little while longer, Brady. What, less than two weeks?”
“I can extend if I want to. Besides, I’m not planning on going east from here. If I go anywhere, it will be on a plane flying north.”
“Will you call me if you change your mind? You can join us wherever we are.”
“Yes, of course.”
My mom goes quiet, and I know why. At this point, I’m just waiting for her to ask. The seconds tick by in silence, then she says cautiously, “Have you heard from Lennon or Finn?”
Covering the phone with my hand, I turn my head to the side and sigh quietly. Into the phone, I say, “I’ve spoken with them both recently. They know where I am.”
“I take it Lennon’s firm in her choice?”
The tinge of hope in my mom’s voice irritates me. If Lennon showed up here right now on the doorstep of cabin seven telling me she’d made a mistake, I’d… I’d… well, I don’t know. I like to think I have my pride. And that her doing something like that would be not only the last nail in the coffin of our three-way friendship, but the first and all the others needed to slam it shut for good.
“Mom, you’ve seen them together. You know how right they are for each other. If I can admit that, maybe you can too.”
“Hmph,” she grunts petulantly. “I’ll never understand how she chose Finn over you. Finn’s great, don’t get me wrong. He’s your best friend for a reason. But you’re… well, you.”
I laugh. I can’t help it. “You’re biased, but that’s okay. You’re supposed to be.”
“Such is the role of a mother. You’ll understand one day when you’re a parent. Speaking of dating…”
I lower the phone and give it a dirty look. That was the most obvious transition in the world. I put the phone on speaker and turn down the volume, then lay the phone on my lap and close my eyes. My mom’s talking away and I’muh-hmm’ing where it seems appropriate.
“Brady!” My eyes fly open at the loud call of my name. Addison’s walking across my little yard, a smile on her face and the bottom of a sundress skimming the middle of her thighs. She looks gorgeous and completely recovered after this morning’s walk to the lake.
I stand quickly, forgetting my phone. It falls to the floor of the wood front porch.
“Brady, who is that?” I hear my mother ask.
Addison must hear it too, because she makes a face and mouths, “Oops.”
I wave a hand at her. “It’s okay,” I mouth back, bending to pick up the phone. I stand up in time to see Addison walking away.
