Since I’d gotten pregnant straight out of high school, my parents spend a lot of their time worrying about me and trying their best to help out. Because they were both retired, they were able to assist me the frequent times a sitter would bail when I had a class or a shift at work.
I appreciated my parent’s help and support over the years, but right now, I needed space and time to figure things out for myself. The last thing I wanted to do was get into an argument with my mother or hear her opinion on what she thought I should be doing. It was inevitable, though.
“Fine.” I sighed, relenting. I could at least tell her as much when Asher was occupied with his lesson. “Let’s go.”
She climbed into the passenger seat, and I sipped my coffee while I waited for them to buckle up. Once I’d double-checked that Asher was secure, I backed out of the driveway.
“So, how did the visit go?” Mom asked, shifting so she could look at the both of us at the same time. Luckily, I could keep my attention on the road without appearing to be rude.
“It was great!” Asher exclaimed. “He’s really cool. He’s coming over after my lesson!”
“Really?” I glanced at her quickly, catching the disapproving set to her lips. “Well that’s wonderful.” It didn’t sound like she thought it was wonderful at all, but a quick glance in the mirror revealed Asher was none the wiser.
Asher’s piano teacher had a music studio down the street from the book shop, run by Mrs. Prichard, a sweet woman in her late sixties. I’d come to know about her through the Watsons, coincidently. She’d taught piano for forty years, and Asher had really taken to her.
I parked in front of the studio, disappearing long enough to run him in and inform Mrs. Prichard I’d pick him up in an hour. When I came back out to the street, my mother was waiting by the curb, looking at the bookstore down the street.
She heard my heels clicking against the sidewalk, but she didn’t turn when she spoke.
“You’ve done so well for yourself, Harper. I don’t think I’ve told you how proud I am of you. You’re a wonderful mother, and you’ve accomplished so much.” She gestured to the store, shaking her head in awe.
“Thanks, Mom,” I softened.
“I couldn’t have done it. I dropped out of school when I found out I was pregnant with you.” She glanced back at me, a wistful little smile on her lips.
“Really?”
“I was going to be a paralegal assistant.” She said, and we started walking toward the bookstore. “Your father had signed on to the Royal Canadian Air Force, and we were already engaged. When I found out I was pregnant, we eloped, and I moved with him onto the family base.”
“Do you regret dropping out?”
“Sometimes,” she admitted. “But I loved my life with your father, and with you. I felt it was a fair trade-off. You, though…you recognized that the person who’d helped you create that perfect little boy wasn’t the person to help you raise him.”
She said this last bit looking directly at me, making sure I wouldn’t miss her point—or the disapproval of it.
“Mom, please. Stop this,” I sighed. “I was wrong. We were both wrong. But none of that matters. Cal is here now.”
“Fornow,” she allowed, pursing her lips. “But he’ll leave again. He’s the kind of man that can’t stay tethered.”
Her words rolled over me, making me feel sick with unease. I stopped walking abruptly. “You don’t know what kind of man he is. And for Asher’s sake, I need you to stop the hostility toward him.”
“I’m sorry, I thought I was doing a good job concealing it.” She said with genuine surprise, and I rolled my eyes. “I just…what kind of man leaves in the middle of the night?”
“A boy, Mom. A broken one.” I answered, facing my mother’s gaze directly. Calum hadn’t said much about the night he’d left, but I’d gotten the gist of it. The bruised jaw and split lip, the haunted look in his eyes—and the remark about not having spoken to his father since that night.
“Well,” she sputtered, at a loss of what to say.
“Calum leftme,Mom, he didn’t know about Asher. Youknowthat. Can we just see what happens now that he does?”
She studied me for a moment before nodding slowly. “Okay. He getsone morechance. But I still think you should see that lawyer.”
I sent her a blank look and continued walking, not even dignifying that with a response. Calum hadn’t done anything tomerita visit to the lawyers.
“I’m just trying to help,” she said, falling into step with me.
“You can help by beingsilentlysupportive and respectful of my decisions. Now let’s stop talking about this and get some coffee, okay?” I asked, pulling open the door to the bookstore.
“All right,” she sighed, relenting, and followed me inside.
