“Of course not!”
She didn’t bother to point out that we’d just come full circle. I mean, it was glaringly obvious. I went back to groaning with my forehead on the counter.
“Why don’t you tell me what happened?”
“He kissed me.”
“Ooooh.” She tutted. “How was it?”
I sighed. “Better than I ever imagined.”
“So what’s got you eating copious amounts of sugar and groaning in my kitchen like the world is ending?”
“Have you ever dreamed of something for so long and suddenly it came true?” I asked.
“Ahh,” she said, a knowing hum in her voice.
I shot up. “What’s ahh?”
“It can be very scary to suddenly have something so important.”
“You think I’m scared?” I asked.
“Maybe not scared but overwhelmed. You spent a long time loving Archer from afar. Of course it’s going to be an adjustment to love him up close.”
Oh,I liked the sound of that.Love him up close. But also… “You really knew I was in love with Archer all this time?”
She smiled. “Of course.”
“How?” I demanded.
“A mother always knows.”
Ugh, mother wisdom. “But you never said anything.”
“You weren’t ready to talk about it.”
“I always was,” I refuted. “It was him who wasn’t.”
Her head tilted to the side. “Are you sure?”
My immediate reaction was to argue.Of course I’m sure! It was all Archer. He rejected me!
But with this morning so fresh in my mind, it was hard not to see that for the fabrication it was.
In truth, I spent the last ten years blaming Archer for pushing me away, but I was the one who’d left town and never came back. Yeah, okay, I came back a few times (notat Christmas), but I avoided him and Hodge Farm like the plague.
Maybe it wasn’t all Archer’s fault but mine too.
Maybe I’d been so hurt all those years ago, not just because he rejected me but because, deep down, I knew he was probably right to do it.
“We hadn’t been ready,” I whispered to myself.
Mom made a humming sound. “You were both very young.”
“But I knew what I wanted.”
“But he wasn’t all you wanted.” Mom’s tone was gentle. “You wanted to be a veterinarian. You wanted to see a place outside of Winterbury. And Archer…” Her voice faded.
