“In a heartbeat,” I said, a little too quickly.
Annie’s mouth curved up just slightly into a smile. “You know Seraphina thinks you guys are perfect together.”
“I do know that. But your mother doesn’t agree.”
“For the record, I wish she did. The others do too. We all like you.”
“Well, that’s nice to hear,” I said.
“Although, Robbie did his little compatibility test and you guys only came in at eighty-eighth percentile.”
“Madison already told me that,” I said.
Annie’s mouth dropped open. “She did? How did that come up?”
“I’m not sure, actually.”
“Robbie’s system is flawed,” Annie said.
“How so?”
“You weren’t on the app, so he had to guess at some data points. For example, if he saw how many things you have in common, like art and music, it probably would have skewed higher. And you both love thrillers, red wine, sad songs, and sand between your toes.”
“That’s all true,” I said, more pleased than I should have been.
“She loves to sleep too,” Annie said. “Sometimes she’ll go to bed at eight. Mostly in the winter when it’s super dark. It used to worry me because of my dad. He spent a lot of time in bed.”
“Different reason than your mom and me,” I said softly.
“Right.” She tugged on an earring absently, looking pensive. “I know you can’t say anything about the meeting last night, but was she okay? She wouldn’t talk about it when she got home, but I could tell she’d been crying. Mom doesn’t cry.”
“Oh, well, I can’t speak to that, of course. But, in general, I thought she seemed pretty good for her first time. She even shared a little.”
“Wow. Really?”
“Yes.” Why had she been crying? Thinking of her driving home in tears made my chest ache.
“Sometimes I wonder if she’s going to be okay.” Annie sighed, tracing the wood pattern on the desk with the tip of her finger. “I wish you could know how she was before. She laughed all the time. She always had music playing in the house. But it was like the music stopped when my dad died.”
I didn’t say anything, simply nodded.
“And I’m going to college in a few years, and I don’t know how it’s going to be for her, all alone at the house. Especially now that the others are married and moving on. I can see already they don’t have as much time as they used to. Now Esme’s going to have a baby, so she’ll be even busier.”
“Their bond’s pretty tight. I think they’ll be all right.”
“Do you miss your mom?” Annie asked after a second.
“Every day. But I feel her here. Besides her house, this was her favorite place in the world.”
“Did you always know you’d take it over after she died?”
“It’s been in my family for forty years, so I figured I’d be involved in some way. The timing worked out well, with my retirement from the Navy and all. It will sound odd, but being with her when she was sick—being there when she passed over to the other side—was a profound experience. I’m grateful I was there.”
“That must have been super hard though.”
“It’s hard to see anyone you love suffer, but the doctors kept her comfortable. And it gave us a chance to share memories and say whatever needed to be said. That was a gift.”
“I can’t even think about life without my mom.”
