Brooks pops his head into the office.
“Who is it?”
I shuffle the endless stack of paperwork around on my desk—my least favorite part of my job.
All of it is mind-numbingly dull. I’d rather be out chopping down trees to go to good homes for the holiday season, but having spent Friday night and all day Saturday with Ollie, I’m behind.
“Someone.” He smirks.
“Can this someone wait?”
Based on his face, he knows exactly who it is and isn’t going to tell me.
The fucker.
“Absolutely not.”
The voice that comes around the corner makes my insides clench.
My mother.
Not exactly the person I wanted to show up in my office unannounced. With the amount of work I have to do, this is definitely going to waylay me today.
“Hi, Mom.”
I stand, rounding the desk to drop a kiss on her cheek.
“Hi, Mom? That’s all you have to say to me? Do you know how many times I’ve called you this month and nothing? You think you can ignore your mother?” she scolds me. Snowflakes stick to her graying brown hair.
“Mom, I’m not ignoring you. You know it’s my busiest time of year. It’s not like I can get away whenever I want.”
“But you can make time for yourboyfriend?”
“What? I’m not dating anyone.”
“Is that the story you’re going with?”
She crosses her arms in front of me. The face she’s giving me is eerily similar to mine when I’m questioning things.
Is this what I’m going to look like when I’m her age?
“Yes?” It comes out as more of a question.
She tsks at me. “That’s not the story I’m hearing.”
“What are you talking about?” The hair on the back of my neck stands on end. I have a feeling I know what she’s talking about and I’m not going to like it.
“Oh, just how you were spotted with aboyfriendthe other night.”
“Where are you hearing this from?”
We went to Vanilla Springs. It’s where Ollie works. I figured we’d be fine there since it wasn’t in Moose Falls.
If people spotted us together in Moose Falls, the gossip train would’ve left the station before we even got inside.
I lean back against my desk, waiting for my mom’s answer.
“I was at Zumba and someone told me how happy you looked with your boyfriend.”
