“I’ve always wanted a relationship like yours and dad’s,” Christian said.
“Everything worth having is worth the sacrifices it takes to get.” His mom said. “You deserve someone who is willing to take risks with you.”
He nodded, and swallowed back the emotion rising in his throat.
He helped them load up the car. He didn’t see Caroline anywhere. Hopefully, she’d finally given up on him.
“Promise you’ll call if you need me,” Christian said.
His mom slammed the trunk shut and looked up at him with a soft smile. “I should be the one saying that to you.”
Christian sighed. “I know it’s not my job to do everything, but I will still be there in a heartbeat if you need me.”
“I know you will, sweetie.” His mom squeezed his arm. “You know, the reason your dad loved that book so much was because it reminded him to live in the now. No one can repeat the past, no matter how much they want to. It took me too long to start living again.” She sniffed, and he instantly felt guilty for not having read it.
“Don’t make the same mistake I did and forget to enjoy what is right in front of you. Maizie will come around. Just promise me you’ll give yourself a break and do what makes you happy for a change.”
“I’ll try, Mom.”
She gave him one last hug and then got in the car. This time saying goodbye to his mom and sister didn’t hurt nearly as bad as it had when he’d left for the summer.
Caroline emerged from the house, and without a single word to him, she threw her stuff in the car, and they took off.
* * *
“Hey Maiz,go grab the boys and move the sprinklers off the bottom half of Grandpa’s field.” Maizie’s dad caught her as soon as she came in for breakfast. She had snuck off early to do chores by herself, hoping to avoid Christian as long as possible, but it apparently wasn’t in the grand design for the day.
“Can I at least eat breakfast first?” she asked.
“Yeah, but be quick. We have a lot to get done today.” He dished himself some of her mom’s famous pancakes after planting a kiss on her mother’s cheek.
“Gross,” she grunted. Maybe it was her parent’s affection, but she didn’t feel so good.
“You think that’s gross? Watch this.” Her dad said, then dipped her mom, laying a disturbingly long kiss on her lips.
Maizie rolled her eyes and looked away. It was gross because it was her parents, but she also almost envied it.
“Stop.” Her mom giggled and swatted him away when he tried to kiss her again. Maizie’s parents weren’t perfect, and they didn’t always get along. But their love for each other was the stuff of fairytales.
“Ugh. Are they kissing again?” Mitchell slid in next to Maizie at the table.
“Yep.” Maizie took a bite of her pancake, but her stomach tensed. Maybe she was getting sick.
“Have you seen Christian’s face?” Mitchell asked between bites.
“No.” When she’d seen him last night, it had been too dark to really see, but he obviously deserved it.
“It’s almost as big as yours was.” Mitchell laughed.
“Maizie, did you give Christian a black eye?” Her mother stopped flipping pancakes and turned on her. She knew her daughter too well. When the boy in Maizie’s preschool class wouldn’t stop tugging out her bows, Maizie had punched him in the stomach. She was still proud of that moment.
“No, that was his other girlfriend,” Maizie said, poking at the pancake on her plate.
“Hisothergirlfriend?”
Maizie winced, of course her mom wouldn’t miss a slip up like that.
“Wow, look at the time, I better get those sprinklers off the field. Mitchell, do you want to help me?”
