34
Tessa
On Monday, Logan was busy at the office, installing his cabinets and doing the finish work. Mom had joined me at the orchard, keeping me company on a particularly slow day. A pack of butterflies had moved into my stomach since I woke up. Tonight, we were meeting with Jake about the truck. I felt solid in our relationship. Granted, it had been going strong for exactly forty-eight hours now, but admitting things to a third party was going to be interesting. Especially a third party who had perfected an all-knowing, annoying grin. And one who would never let us live this down.
Mom came from the greenhouse, carrying a small box loaded with strawberries we had picked that morning. She was down to only using a cane when she walked.
“You’ll be back to running 10Ks in no time,” I said, patting her knee.
“I will,” she said.
I turned to look at her. “Wow, you’re optimistic today.”
“I decided I’m going to get past this and heal. It’s time to go back to doing everything I want to do. I’ve heard so many horror stories about knee replacements, but I’m determined not to be one of them.”
“Good for you. And good job not being a terrible patient. You’ll get better because you listened and did what I told you to do. That always helps.”
My phone buzzed with a text from Logan, showing me the cabinets he’d just installed. After proudly showing the picture to my mom, I typed back a message to him, full of gushy embarrassing love stuff I couldn’t hold back if I tried.
“I’m glad Logan finally admitted to being in love with you.” She kicked my toe gently.
I lifted my head to look at her. “What do you mean?”
“Honey, that boy has been gone on you for months. He just didn’t know what to do about it. Did you know your dad never told him to re-paint the porch railings?”
No. I didn’t.
I was enjoying a quiet glow until Mom poked my arm. “Are you excited to see your new office?”
“Yeah.”
The heat from her blatant stare singed my cheek until I turned and looked at her. “What?”
“And how are you feeling about your career choice in Eugene with Logan in Boise?”
“About as good as I felt about my career choice three semesters in.”
“What?”
Here it was. It wasn’t admitting it to Nate yet, but talking it over with my mom seemed like a decent start. “Honestly, Mom, I’m not sure that physical therapy is the right career for me. I thought I would like it, but unless screaming into a pillow after every session is normal, I don’t seem to.”
I bravely held eye contact with her and was startled when she began to laugh.
“Why are you laughing?”
“Tess, I always thought it was a strange choice of career for you ever since you went for it, but you were so determined. I don’t know if it was pressure from Nate that made you do it, but for some reason, I always wondered about you.”
“Wait, what?”
“You have a lot of strengths, Tessa Robbins, but patience for people isn’t necessarily one of them.”
“I was patient with you!” I protested.
“You were great,” she said firmly. “But I assume that was more because I’m your mother, and I have many of your tendencies myself. We’re goers and doers, and we like results. Some people are casual doers. And that’s fine. They’re probably great at something else that we’re terrible at. The world turns because everybody is different. But I always wondered why you didn’t become a chef or baker or something.”
“I’ve thought about it, but I wanted a job with some stability. And hearing Nate always talk about it made it sound like something I could do. And then I didn’t want to disappoint you and Dad. You spent all that money to put me through school. I’m not going to just throw it away.”
“Don’t worry about us, Tess. We’d much rather see you enjoy your career than stick with something you hate.”
