“Ellie had a lot of hair,” Momma said. “It would take me a while to get it done, that’s for sure.” She sighed a happy little sigh. “And you’d bring me a blueberry pancake that was barely cooked all the way through. I ate it anyway, because I wanted you to think I liked them.”
“Momma,” he said. “This is proof that I’ve always been a terrible cook. No wonder you kept chasing me out of the kitchen.”
“Oh, so you rememberthat?” Momma asked.
Adam laughed. “Yeah, that I remember.” He got out the sugar bowl and his favorite mug. “Joey is a real good cook,” he said, pride moving through him for absolutely no reason whatsoever. “She works at a bakery in the morning and a catering place at night, and she went to a year of culinary school in New York.”
“Mm, hm,” Momma said, and Adam knew she wasn’t listening.
“Yeah,” he said. “And then she got abducted by aliens and disappeared off the face of the planet for a couple of years.”
Silence for a beat. Then two.
“Oh, Adam, she’spretty,” Momma said.
His heartbeat spiked, punching the back of his throat. “What do you mean? How would you know she’s pretty?”
“You said she was one of Country Quad’s daughters.”
“YouGoogledher?” he asked.
“She comes up with her daddy…though she looks pretty young in this photo.”
Adam had no idea what picture his mother had found, but his throat had turned tight, the words right there on the tip of his tongue, unable to be ignored. “Yeah, well, that’s because she’s pretty young,” he said.
“What do you mean?” she asked.
“I’m sure she doesn’t have a Wikipedia page,” Adam griped. “She’s younger than me, Momma, by quite a lot.”
“How much younger?”
“Why does it matter?” he asked. “She’s an adult.”
“Is she like, an adult last week, or like, an adult a year ago?”
“Momma, she’ll be twenty-three in February,” he said. “She’s been an adult for almost five years. She’s lived in New York City, for crying out loud.”
“Oh, okay,” Momma said, and that was that.
Adam wished things could be as simple for Otis andGeorgia, but he also understood why they weren’t. He’d signed a three-year contract with Country Quad, and he wouldn’t be going anywhere. He’d have to see the Youngs for all of those days, even if he broke up with Joey.
Be real, he thought to himself.If this relationship ends, it’ll be because she doesn’t want to see you anymore.
How would that go when she had to see him just to show up to her own family’s events?
As the coffee started to percolate, he reminded himself that he was not her daddy’s personal assistant. He was the band manager, and Joey could choose to be as involved with the band as much or as little as she wanted to be.
So if they broke up, he wouldn’t have to see her. He still would, and it would be painful, because Adam could not imagine his life without Joey in it.
He suddenly wanted to ask his mother about love, but he figured he better stick to one topic at a time.
“So what about church?” he asked. “Should I go with her?”
“Oh, honey, you’re thirty years old,” Momma said. “You can decide for yourself if you want to go to church or not.”
“I’m actually thirty-one.”
“Right, so make your decision.”
