Page 21 of Worth of Waste

Even Junior started to smile.

Karen loved that.

“Look at him,” Karen’s mother said, her smile beaming. “He’s having so much fun.”

Lydia’s happiness over her grandson’s enjoyment of floating in the pool with his grandfather was damn near contagious. Karen had to admit, Junior did look awfully pleased with his swim trunks and flotation vest, as his grandfather walked him around the pool and he floated on his back.

“I haven’t taken him to a pool,” Karen admitted. “It’s not been warm enough yet.”

“An inside pool, maybe?” her mother asked.

“I’ll have to find one and make time, seeing as how he likes this so much.”

Lydia laughed. “You loved the water, too. Couldn’t keep you out of it. Your father almost made me keep a lifejacket on you at all times, for fear you would find somewhere to swim. You didn’t even know how to properly swim until you were four.”

Karen hadn’t known that little tidbit about her childhood, and found herself smiling at the unknown memory. “Really?”

“Yep.” Lydia looked over at her, her smile growing softer. “I was worried you wouldn’t come, Karen.”

“Why wouldn’t I come, Mom?”

Lydia shook her head, sighing. “You’ve just been so far away for so long, that’s all.”

“I’m here.”

“Yes, with a baby.”

Karen couldn’t help but laugh. “I know—big change.”

“I wish you would have told me sooner.”

Yeah, she wished that, too.

“I thought you would be angry with me,” Karen admitted.

Lydia placed a hand on her daughter’s cheek, the action both tender and supportive. “I’m always going to be proud of you, Karen, no matter what. You’re all grown up, so you get to make grown up decisions and I don’t get much of a say. You’re doing just fine.”

Karen looked out, finding her son still smiling in the pool. “Sometimes, I think maybe I’m just really good at pretending to be okay—that I don’t really know what I’m doing at all.”

“Psht. All mothers feel that way for the first baby.”

“Did you?”

Lydia shrugged. “All your life, even the day you walked out the door to do your own thing. It’s what mothers do, Karen. We fret. We worry. We overthink. But in the end, we raise pretty amazing little creatures. It just takes us a while to figure that out.”

Karen hadn’t realized it, but she needed to hear those words.

Especially from her mother.

“Thanks,” she whispered.

Lydia waved a hand as if to brush it all away. “It’s nothing. Sometimes, we just need someone else to tell us that we’re doing just fine and everything will be okay.”

That was true enough.

However, Karen had meant to thank her mother for more than just her reassurances that she wasn’t failing Junior in some way by being his mom.

“Actually, I meant for more than Junior.” Karen pushed a few strands of her hair behind her ears, keeping her gaze on her son and not her mother. It was easier that way. “I was scared coming here would be awkward, or maybe a little bit sad. I didn’t know how I would answer certain questions, if you starting asking things, or how you would feel about the answers I did give. You’ve done none of that, Mom, and neither has Dad. I really appreciate it.”