They both flip their canvas around and look at each other’s work. My aunt gapes at Mom’s painting and squints her eyes at the creation that was made.
“I don’t have pink hair.” Aunt Rosey has confusion written all over her face.
Mom turns her head to look at her work again and says, “I know, but I thought you looked cute with it.” Then turns back to Aunt Rosey.
“I look like Frenchie from Grease!”
“Well, I think it looks lovely,” I chime in.
“Don’t encourage her.” Aunt Rosey points to me.
“You gave me a unibrow,” Mom yells.
“Because you have one!” Aunt Rosey yells back.
My mom gasps. “I do not.”
“Then what are you plucking at every morning, hm?” Aunt Rosey retorts.
I glance up at the ceiling to avoid this conversation. They’ve been doing this for as long as I can remember, and it doesn’t faze me at all, but when one of them pulls me in—which happens half the time—it gets ugly.
I clear my throat to try to stop the back and forth between them. They both look up at me while I stand there.
“As much as I would love to watch you two go back and forth on who painted who the worst, I came over to talk to you about something.” I place my hands on my hips.
“Is everything okay?” Mom asks in a tender voice.
I rock my head from side to side, not knowing how to answer that.
“Take a seat.” Aunt Rosey gestures to a chair across the room. “What’s going on?”
I place my hands on my knees as I sit down and let out a heavy breath. “It’s about Dad,” I tell them, taking my hat off and running a hand through my hair.
“Did something happen after you spoke with him?” Mom turns to me.
“No, nothing happened. Everything is fine. Ellie, she just got this idea in my head, and I don’t know if it’s a good one.”
I rest my cheek on my fist and look at them.
Aunt Rosey throws her hand toward me. “Go on.”
“Ellie suggested that I invite Dad to the food festival. She's signed up for it—technically, I signed her up—and she thought it would be fun to have him, and Amy come to town for the weekend.”
“Oh.” Mom looks at her sister, and they both have the same surprised expression. Then she turns back to me. “Are you asking us if that’s okay?”
“I guess? I think it’s more about Addie and how she would feel. She doesn’t care to meet him, and I don’t want to put her in an uncomfortable situation.”
“But…” Aunt Rosey says.
“But I would like to show Dad around town. Show him what’s changed, and I don’t know, get to know him again. I know I can do that by going to him, but I also want to be able to have him come to me. See my house, my business, my life.”
My mom reaches out for my hand. I look down at it when I wrap mine in hers. Holding my mom's hand makes me feel like a kid again. All those memories of just the two of us walking down the beach hand in hand while we collected seashells.
“I’m not going to get between you and your father. We have no issues with each other, and although he wasn’t physically around, he always took care of us, and you know that. He’s a good man.” She gives a slight shrug. “He just chose a different path in life. It’s not worth holding grudges against someone. Life is too short to do that, and I knew that he would one day be a part of your life again. As for your sister, well, that’s a conversation between the two of you. You know how stubborn she can be. She got it from this one.” She throws a thumb over her shoulder toward Aunt Rosey.
“What you call stubborn, I call headstrong.” Aunt Rosey waves her off.
My mom's expression is unamused by the annoyance of her sister. I laugh and nod my head.
