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Mom crossed her arms. “I admit, I’ve liked my independence over the years. It’s allowed me to, well, um, have a life of my own.”
“What do you mean?”
She cocked her head. “I like having space to myself, to invite people into.”
Her eyes widened. “Like, men?”
“Yes, men. Did you think I’ve been celibate all this time?”
Tea’s mouth fell open. “You’ve been dating? Since when?”
“Since you left for Chicago. I got on one of those new dating apps. Turns out, there are a lot of lonely people out there in the same situation I’m in.”
She was flabbergasted. “Do you think you’ll ever remarry?”
Mom shrugged. “Maybe. Did you really think I would remain single my whole life?”
Tea hesitated. “Well, no. I guess I didn’t think about it too much.”
“And is that perhaps because you didn’t want to think about what comes next? To let yourself move on?”
Archer’s words came back to her at that moment, about how afraid she was to let someone in. Letting someone in felt like freefalling. You weren’t sure what came next. You weren’t sure if everything would work out. But…was she really going to live her life standing on the edge, afraid to jump?
“Honey?”
She blinked. “Mmhmm?”
“Do you actually want this job at the bank?”
She hesitated, then shook her head.
“Then why go back? What do you actually want to do?”
Tea thought about it for a moment. “I really liked working for Archer this summer.”
“Why? Because you’re in love with him and won’t admit it?”
She rolled her eyes. “I liked making his business easier for him by taking over the finances and the admin stuff. He was way more relaxed about the whole thing and by the end of the summer, he started really enjoying it.” She paused. “Also, Jorge was talking about how his lab is looking for someone to take on their finances. It was hard not to sit through that conversation and think that I could absolutely kill it at that job.”
“It sounds like you’d much rather work for small businesses than a large one.”
She sighed. “Yes, but I don’t have much experience yet. Shouldn’t I go do the internship and see what happens?”
“Eh, no, I don’t think so.” Mom shrugged. “You technically got experience working with Archer this summer. Couldn’t that count?”
Tea tapped her fork, thinking it through.
“I think the more important question here is…do you actually want to go back? Or are you only doing it because of me?”
She gazed at her mom but didn’t respond.
“I know that look. You know I’m right, but you’re too stubborn to admit it. Just like your father.” Mom pointed to the car. “You have your entire life packed up in that vehicle. Like I said at the beginning of the summer, you could go anywhere.” She leaned in. “So…where do you want to go?”
Chapter 28
Archer
“How are you holding up?”
