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She pursed her lips and poured me a glass of orange juice. “So you keep saying. And yet you’ve been out with him most nights this week. Late.”
“It’s not just us. We’re hanging out with friends,” I said. “Violet too. I managed to get her to come tonight to reconnect with Miller.”
“Good for you! Little cupid, aren’t we? Now if only you could aim that bow and arrow at yourself…”
She swatted me on the butt and cackled a laugh.
“You are in too good a mood for this early in the morning. Any mail come for me yesterday?” I asked, desperate for a change of subject.
“Not yet, honey.”
“Damn.”
I had turned in my applications for business operation and seller’s licenses and was now waiting to hear back from the city. If approved, I’d be one step closer to my own shop.
“It’d be nice to know if I got my permits before someone rents that old laundromat space.”
“It’s been available this long, so it must be destined for you,” Bibi said. “But that old place is so run down. Wouldn’t it be nice to have someone who could help you make it beautiful?”
I tensed and then eased a breath. “I don’t need Ronan—or anyone else—to help me. I’m doing this on my own. I’ve come this far.” I smiled to take the harshness out of my words. “I’m going to take a shower.”
“Shiloh—”
A knock came at the front door.
Bibi squinted at the clock in the kitchen. “Who could that be? At this hour?”
She watched from the dining room table as I went to find out.
I opened the door to my mother.
My breath caught in my throat, my heart dropping as I clutched the jamb, not believing my own eyes.
“What…what are you doing here?”
“I flew in late yesterday,” Mama said, her gaze darting everywhere and finally landing on me. Taking me in. She took a fortifying breath and stood taller. “To talk to you, Shiloh.”
“You came all this way to talk to me? It’s seven in the morning…”
“You’re eighteen now, and I think it’s time,” she said, her hands gripping and twisting the strap on her purse. “I waited eighteen years, and suddenly, I can’t wait another minute.”
I fell back from the door to let her in, staring. She wore blue jeans, a red sweater under her coat. A yellow headband kept her curls back.
Blue, red, and yellow. The primary colors… I thought and wondered if I were losing my mind.
“Hello, Marie,” Bibi said warily.
“Hello, Bibi. How are you feeling?”
“That depends,” she replied pointedly.
Bibi moved to the couch and sank down with a heavy sigh. I couldn’t take my eyes off Mama, afraid she’d disappear if I blinked.
“What’s…what’s happening? Is Bertie okay? Uncle Rudy?”
“They’re fine. I told you, we need to talk.” Mama clutched her bag like a shield. She looked younger, somehow, than she had this summer. More fragile. She wasn’t in her territory now but mine. “Now that I’m here…I don’t know if I made the right decision.”
“Marie,” Bibi warned and shook her head.
