Mom: Why the hell are you in Crescent Falls? What’s going on?
Me: I’m with Rylee, helping her get situated out here with her brother.
Mom: Then why did you take leave from your job?
I frowned.
Me: How do you even know about that?
Mom: I wanted to surprise you with lunch. Imagine me being the one surprised when they told me you had taken a leave.
Well fuck!
Me: It’s temporary and not a big deal.
Mom: It’s a very big deal, Somee. This is your job and what about your bills and your life here?
Me: My bills are paid. I had the time so my job is fine. It will be there when I get back.
Mom: Did he ask you to do this? It’s incredibly selfish on his part. You can’t just drop your priorities for him and I know you care about Rylee but leaving your job was irresponsible.
Me: He’s not selfish. In fact, he’s very generous considering I’m being paid twice my salary just to spend a few months helping Rylee get adjusted. I get that it’s not a decision you would have made, but I’m not you. I love you. I need you to trust that I know what I’m doing.
But did I really know what I was doing? This was supposed to be easy. Fly out here, spend a few months helping Rylee adjust with Ryland, then leave and go back to my life.
In essence, it felt simple and easy, but it wasn’t. When I thought about leaving, my heart hurt because my life didn’t seem all that great anymore and it wasn’t just about Rylee.
The bubbles began then stopped and my stomach tensed in anticipation. When the message came through, it was so much worse.
Mom: I really hope you do.
That was it. Those simple words dropped a boulder the size of a basketball into my stomach because there was so much more to them, but overall, the one thing I felt the most was her disappointment. No matter how I presented this to my mother, she would never accept that my decision to leave was about Rylee. In her eyes, I was placing my life on hold for a man. A hearing man who would break my heart the same way my father broke hers.
I didn’t bother responding. Instead, I locked my phone and tossed it onto the sofa next to me. After two minutes of being in my head, I couldn’t stand the thoughts that kept circulating because I had to be real. Rylee wasn’t the only reason I’d agreed to come out here.
I grabbed my phone and sent a text to the one person I knew would make me feel better.
Me: I talked to my mom…
Instead of a text, a video call came through and I smiled when Marlee’s face came into view. She was in her car, but based on what I could see in the background, she was parked in her garage.
“She on a flight to come get you?”she signed as soon as we were locked into the call.
I grinned and lifted my phone, propping it against the arm of the sofa. I moved back enough to be in view of the camera. Settling in, I brought my feet up on the cushion and crossed them at the ankles before I responded.
“No, worse. She hit me with ‘I really hope you know what you’re doing’ and left it at that.”
“Shit, that’s bad.”
“Yep, it is because even though I told her I do, she was pretty much telling me I didn’t. She’s pissed.”
“She’ll be okay. How did she even find out?”
“Came to the school to surprise me with lunch and they told her I was on an extended leave.”
“Ah damn.”
“Exactly. She asked if it was Ryland’s idea.”
