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“How’s Derek been at work?” Cleo asked.
“I don’t see him a lot, but when I do see him in the warehouse, he seems focused. Before, he was usually staring blankly at the wall or fidgeting with his pencil. So…it’s nice to see him back into things.”
“That’s good. He seems much less stressed.” She took a few bites of her broccoli before moving back to her salmon. “Deacon is sleeping like a rock, and he’s never snored since the day I met him, and now he’s snoring like an animal.”
I chuckled. “Catching up on all that lost sleep.”
“I guess so.” She smiled before she brought the water to her lips to take a drink. “Any luck finding a new job?”
“Um…I actually got an offer.”
“You did?” she asked excitedly. “Where?”
“It’s at a law firm in Manhattan for this big executive guy. But…I turned it down.”
“Oh?”
“I just… It didn’t feel right leaving at this time.”
She dropped her gaze and pushed her food around. “Because of Derek?”
I nodded.
“At the end of the day, this is your life and not his. You need to do what’s right for you, not him. Derek will survive without you. He did before, he’ll do it again.”
Her words were shocking to me. “I’m surprised you’re encouraging me to leave instead of taking him back.”
She lifted her gaze and stared at me, looking genuinely surprised. “Why would I do that?”
“Because he’s your son. You want him to be happy.”
“Of course I do.” She set down her fork and gave me another hard look. “But I want you to be happy too, Emerson. I care about you independently from my feelings for Derek. I would love it if you two worked it out, but if it’s meant to be, it’ll happen. If I have to tell you to do it or manipulate you in any way, then it’s not meant to be.”
The weight suddenly left my chest, and now I admired this woman even more. She cared about me for me, not just because of my relationship with her son.
“If you and Derek can’t make it work, in time, you’ll find someone else… He’ll find someone else. You’ll both be happy. Will you be happier with those other people than with each other? There’s no way to know that. But I like to believe that no matter what our choices are, the end result is the same. We will find happiness. So, don’t waste time wondering what will happen someday. Just do what you feel is right.”
I nodded, finding her words comforting. But there was still a seed of doubt, deep inside. “If you had married someone else, would you be as happy?”
Her eyes narrowed slightly at the question because it clearly caught her off guard. She dropped her gaze and stared at her food for a while, quiet for so long that she mimicked her husband’s and son’s behavior. “No—not by a long shot.”
When I got home, Lizzie had already showered and ate dinner at the table. As always, her backpack was sitting there, her papers everywhere, even though I’d told her a million times not to do that.
But instead of berating her right when I walked in the door, I greeted my mom and asked how her day was. We talked about practice, and then she went across the hall to join my dad.
Lizzie continued to eat. “How’s Cleo?”
“Good. She’s in good spirits.”
“Was Derek there?”
I shook my head and took the seat across from her.
She looked down at her food and kept eating.
“How was your day?”
She shrugged and kept eating. “Fine.”
She was barely a teenager, and it was already hard to get answers out of her. My gaze dropped to the table between us, and I saw the stack of papers there…along with an exam that had an A in red marker at the top. The numbers and equations on the paper told me it was for her geometry class, which she was failing. “Lizzie…” I grabbed the paper and pulled it toward me. “What’s this?” I looked it up and down before I turned to her.
“I got that back today.”
“But what’s this?” I pointed to the big red A at the top.
“Ugh, an A? Mom, do you need glasses like Grandma?”
“I thought you were failing.”
“Well, now I’m not.”
“That’s great.” I set it down, feeling the pride in my chest. “Did you find a better tutor?”
“Um…” She looked down at her food and stabbed the meat with her fork. “Just some video tutorial I found online.”
“That’s awesome, Lizzie. I told you you didn’t need anyone but yourself.”
“Yeah, I guess you were right.”
At the end of the workday, I went to the warehouse to find Derek alone. He was working at his station, a stack of papers all around him, becoming disorganized all over again because he was going a million miles an hour.
