And if they still have their shit years despite me doing my best, they’ll know I still love them, and I’ll be there for them.
I want what Tavi Lightly wants.
A solid, real, imperfect, but always-trying family.
Didn’t seethatcoming when I rolled out of bed this morning.
“Do me a favor?” I ask Hannah.
“As if I could tell you no when you tried to bleed out through your head on my mom’s kitchen floor after letting my big news slip.”
“Ouch. Okay. Got it. No favors.”
“No, no, I’ll do a favor. I mean, so long as I’m home before Andrew gets off work. It’s my night to pick takeout, and if I don’t do it, he will, and he’s been on this burrito kick recently, which would’ve been fine two weeks ago, but right now, all I want is fresh bread. Like those rolls that they used to have at lunchtime at Ladyfingers.”
“The ones Jane’s mom made.” I smile at the memory. Jane’s mom had a side business baking the heaviest, yeastiest dinner rolls, then threatening to sell them to Ladyfingers’ competition anytime she raised her prices and they didn’t like it.
Good lady. We all miss her.
Pretty sure she wouldn’t say she misses me, but I miss her.
Hannah’s smiling too. “Oh my God,yes. I would give my left arm for one of those rolls right now.”
I reach for my phone, the automatic response to Hannah’sI would give my left armrequest, but it’s not on my nightstand.
“Your mom has your phone,” she says, “and I can text Jane myself to see if she’ll make a batch.”
“Yeah, but you’re a Deer Dropper now. She’ll tell you to go ask Deer Drop Floyd, since he likes to steal Tickled Pink recipes so much.”
“Oh, stop. He’s not that bad.”
“Not that bad? Not that bad?Jesus, Hannah. You really are a Deer Dropper.”
The doorbell rings, echoing through the house.
“Quiet,” Mom hisses at it.
She used to tell the dog to be quiet or one of my stepdads to be quiet, but she’s in a spot between dogs and husbands, so it’s just the doorbell she can tell to hush.
“She needs another dog,” Hannah says.
“Not while she’s living in my house, she doesn’t.”
“Okay, Grumpy.”
“I like dogs.”
“Uh-huh.”
“I likeplentyof dogs.”
“So why can’t your mom have a dog?”
“Because when she finds an apartment or my next stepfather, there’ll be a question of ownership, and I’m not losing another dog to my mother, who just might lose the dog to her next ex-husband.”
Hannah’s cheeks go pink. “Was that subtle shade?”
I blink as I belatedly remember Banshee and the situation with Hannah’s parents. “Not on purpose.”
