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“Liam’s helping me,” I blurted.
“Liam’s there?Oh, good.”Relief poured over the line.“How is he?”
“Doing well.”Other daughters might feel bad for lying to their mothers.It wasn’t like having a caring parent should be a hardship.It was that Mom still viewed me as the sick kid she had to fight the medical world for.Mom was ready to battle the rest of the world for me too.“I watched the kids a couple of days last week when Grandma Gin wasn’t feeling well.”Once she had spiked a fever, I’d shooed her out of the house and stayed for two nights.The days had flown by as the kids and I played games, watched movies, and explored the pastures.
“He’s asking you to watch his kids?”
I closed my eyes at my mom’s exasperated tone.I should’ve kept my mouth shut.“I offered.”
“Do you think it’s wise?”
“Why wouldn’t it be?”I was a teacher.But this was Mom.She was probably stuck on how I couldn’t continue teaching after Derek’s funeral, and she hadn’t seen me since Christmas, since before I went back to work.She’d occasionally flown back to Coal Haven to dote on me, but never to just visit me.
“Liam shouldn’t be using you for free childcare after all you’ve been through.”
“Like I said, I offered.”
“Mmm.Are you sure I shouldn’t send Benji over?”HerMmmwas so much less satisfying than Liam’s.“It might be a little too much too soon for you.”
Benji would do what Mom wanted.Stepdad number four had been around the longest, and truthfully, I liked him the best.But he wasn’t a father figure, and I didn’t really want to make awkward small talk with him.
“Nope, Liam’s almost done.”I hated that the way to get Mom off my back was to let her think that a man had fixed my problems.I wasn’t a Disney princess.Those princesses also had networks of friends.I hadn’t quite reached the level of little birds doing my laundry.“I should probably go.”
“Oh, okay.Goodbye.Call if you need anything.”
And she’d send Benji over.Got it.“Love you, Mom.”
I disconnected and wrestled with the toilet for another half an hour.The flapper was taut but not too tight.Before I’d started, I’d taken pictures of the float valve and adjusted the new kit.Thanks to at least three how-to videos, I was prepared to adjust more.I leaned over it and peered inside.I didn’t know what normal looked like, but it looked pretty damn good if I said so myself.
I was about to turn the water to the tank back on when my phone rang again.My sister.I dropped my head and my hair flopped over my forehead.“For fuck’s sake.”
Good thing I didn’t keep a swear jar.I washed my hands again and answered.“Mom told you to call.”
“Something about Benji’s plumbing and Liam’s kids,” Cassidy said dryly.
Cassidy and I weren’t close, but it wasn’t like we didn’t get along.She was six years older than me, and we hadn’t gotten much of a chance to be sisters before she had moved halfway across the country.“God.I had to tell her that Liam fixed the sink to keep her from shoving Benji in the car and pointing him west.”
“You fixed the sink?”
“Yes,” I said defensively, disliking the surprise in her tone.“No.I mean, I did, then it started leaking again.I think I need a new faucet.It’s old.Right now, I’m about to turn on the water to the toilet and see if I fixed that.”
“Damn.And you’re doing it yourself?”Unlike me, Cassidy had made it her mission to prove she could win the award for Most Independent Woman Ever.While Mom was taking me to doctors’ appointments, Cassidy was fixing the overhead garage door or changing oil.Cassidy and I were adults, but I didn’t think she’d gotten over her conflicted feelings about me.The way she’d needed to show how competent she was because I’d received all the attention for being sick, to being resentful that everything had fallen on her shoulders—especially when Mom had been between husbands.
Times like this, Mom still turned to Cassidy to fix things or to check on me.Cassidy never called otherwise.
“I don’t need help.I wasn’t lying about Liam being around.He’s home and will come over if I get into trouble.”After our last conversation, I had stuck to messaging him.Something about him and Laney going on a maybe date had left me raw.He was home for his ten-day stretch, and he hadn’t stopped in either.Totally normal, but somehow this time felt different.
“So what’s with you and his kids?I couldn’t understand Mom.”
Cassidy probably hadn’t listened to half of what Mom had said.“I’ve been helping Liam’s grandma with them because I want to.He’s my friend and I like his kids, but he’s moving soon, and Mom’s afraid I’ll get too attached to Eli and Owen.”
“Is Liam only a friend?”
“Cassidy.”
“What?It’s an honest question.”
“I’m—” I was about to say married, but that wasn’t exactly true.The knife twist to the gut was there, but not as damaging as it usually was when I thought about my marital status.“I’m not on the market?”
