Chapter 12
Connor
As embarrassing as it was for a classroom of teenagers to find out my parents passed away, and that’s why I teased Maddie through school, it also felt like a win.
I was a little disappointed when she didn’t ask me why I started the rumor. I was ready to tell her everything. Iwantedto tell her everything. But I should have known she wouldn’t have gone that deep with all the kids there.
I stretch back on the couch, staring at the bright yellow ceiling of the home I grew up in. I remember when Mom painted it. She ended up destroying the carpet and half the furniture in the process, but she loved it. She said, “now we can always live in the sunshine.“
It doesn’t feel like sunshine anymore.
I drop my hand to the couch, and that’s when I remember the pile of bills I put there.
I’m so sick of worrying about money.
Millie doesn’t seem to have the same worries. She lives by the motto that life is meant to be enjoyed. Like our parents. Which apparently means it’s okay to go on a shopping spree every other month.
The front door bursts open, and Millie waltzes in with colorful shopping bags adorning her arms.
Case in point.
“I found the most amazing sales. Also, I think I’m going to start making my own resin jewelry. It’s super popular right now and seems like a lot of fun.”
She drops an armful of bags onto the kitchen counter that was clean two seconds ago. Right before Hurricane Millie blew in.
I stand and take my cup to the dishwasher, leaving the bills where they are. They will still be unpaid tomorrow.
“Do you really think it’s wise to start another hobby right now?” I ask, picking up the remains of her last hobby from the windowsill. She attempted to start an indoor garden, but the ceramic pot with nothing but a sprig of a basil leaf hasn’t seen a drop of water in weeks.
Millie swoops it out of my hand and places it back on the windowsill. “It’s always a good time to start a new hobby. If I’m not learning, I’m not living. And I don’t want my brain to die before my body does.”
I admire her life’s philosophy, but some of her hobbies are absurd.
The month she took over learning Japanese traditions, she woke me up with a gong every morning. I had headaches for weeks, and now there’s a pointless gong hogging up the office. Before that, she dedicated an entire month to finding me a wife. One woman even hid in my car after work, and I nearly killed both of us when she popped out at a stoplight and kissed me on the cheek. It was the longest thirty-one days of my life.
I shouldn’t goad her about her hobbies. I know she’s only trying to find something she’s passionate about rather than doing hair. She’s a lot like our dad that way. So many ambitions and the desire to pursue them all.
Millie dumps the contents of her bags onto the counter, quickly filling the large countertop with her “amazing finds.”
My hands clench around my cup. She has a room, a perfectly messy room she can take this to.
“Did you really need all this stuff?” I eye the bags. A few are from high-end stores. She can’t afford this.Ican’t afford this. And I’m the one who ends up paying for it when she can’t cover her half of the monthly mortgage. Which happens all too often.
“Of course I do.” She pulls a package of Skittles out of one of the bags and opens it. “And it was all on sale, so it was actually like saving money.”
I rub my temples. How many times do I have to have this conversation with her? “You didn’t save any money; you stillspentmoney.”
“You’ve got to spend money to make money,” she quips.
“That only counts if you’re investing in your business, the one where you actually make money.” How has she made it this far in life?
I pick up one of the odd items. “A banana slicer, really? Were you having trouble working the butter knife?“
She plucks it out of my hands. “Think about how much time we’ll save.“
“As a matter of fact, I was just considering that dilemma this morning. If only there was a way to get back all those wasted seconds.“
She rolls her eyes. “You’re infuriating.”
