Page 60 of Lucky 22

“So, you’re moving to St. Louis?”

“Kind of.”

“What do you mean, kind of?”

“Mom, my job is primarily in Hollywood and Atlanta for now.I can’t move to St. Louis full-time.” I pause. “And don’t think I don’t knowwhat you’re thinking.”

She smirks. “Okay, what am I thinking?”

“You’re thinking I need to go after what’s mine. And I am.Just not…I can’t quit my career,” I say firmly. “I won’t. I love Christian, andwe know we want to get married, but…”

“But your career is just as important as his.”

“Exactly.” Even though he’s making way more money than Icould ever fathom making, that doesn’t mean my dream is less.

“This isn’t exactly what you signed on for,” she sayssoftly. “But you, more than anyone, know that if you want something, you needto work for it.” Then she smiles. “Or maybe I should remind you of a Christmasgift we gave you when you were a little girl.”

The baseball hat with Dream It. Be It embroideredon it.

“Mom…”

“You can be anything you want to be, Ella. You can be anactress. A singer. A dancer. You can even be the wife of a Major LeagueBaseball player. But…”

“I have to work for it,” I finish.

“Exactly.”

She hugs me, and I hold on for longer than usual because Ineed this. Tears sting my eyes. So much is changing, and I thought my lifewould be more settled by now.

She gives me one last squeeze before stepping back. “When doyou leave for St. Louis?”

“January second. We want to celebrate New Year’s with ourfriends. Plus, we have some shopping to do. Neither of us even owns winterclothes. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen actual snow. I’m used to the fake stuffthey use on movie sets. Or at Wonder Land. Remember the way they would make itsnow for the holiday parties?”

“I do. And I remember seeing the look on your face the firsttime you saw it. You were enchanted by it and looked like an angel.” She sighssoftly.

“It was magical,” I say, remembering how I would twirl underthe flurries that were just fake snow made from a soap product called SNOAP.Even when I got older and knew it wasn’t real, I still liked to pretend it was.“I’m guessing St. Louis gets a lot of snow.”

“I’m sure! I think you’re definitely going to see it inJanuary,” she teases. “Is there anything I can do, sweetheart?”

“You’ve already done it. You listened and let me geteverything out that I’ve been keeping inside.”

Like so many other things.

“Christian needs to know how you feel. Relationships don’twork if you don’t communicate.”

“I know, and I’ll tell him. I just didn’t want to do itwhile we were in Florida. There’s so much going on with his dad. I didn’t wantto add to all the stress. But…we’ll talk about it. I promise.”

“Good girl. Now, come on. I made all your favorite holidaydishes.”

“You didn’t have to do that. You just made it all two daysago.”

“Nope. We haven’t had Christmas yet. We were waiting foryou.”

And then I’m hugging her again, and even though I can hearthe kitchen timer going off, I hold on to her for a long time.

“What have we gotten ourselves into?”

Christian’s reading my mind again because that’s exactlywhat I’m thinking.