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“Boring,” she said.
When she was younger she hated it. She wanted someone to do things with. Someone else to be with during the holidays.
As she got older she thought it might have been nice to have another shoulder to lean on with the care of her mother. Then she realized that was nuts because what if she had a younger sibling added to the responsibility of her mother?
She learned you should appreciate what you have and try not to wonder or worry about things you can’t go back in time to fix or change.
“I wouldn’t know what that was like,” he said. “Our family is huge and loud. And we are all close to the same age. There was always someone to do something with or hang out with.”
“No way you guys all went to the same high school?” she said.
“Nope. We live in different areas of Charlotte. The five went to one. Devin and I to one and Liam and Faith to another. But we still did things with them. We played sports against them. That was fun.”
“I can imagine. You didn’t say if you wanted kids?”
“I don’t think I can get away with saying no in this family.”
She laughed. “I understand that. But you should do what you want and not what others expect of you.”
He tugged at a lock of her hair. “You know me better than that. But I do want kids. I like the big family feel. Not to have that many of my own, but to be able to spend holidays with family and such. I think two is a good number too. I liked having Devin to do things with and got my fill of the big gatherings. I’m not sure I’d want that many and it’s a big cost on top of it.”
“I know,” she said. “All those people who say having two or three kids isn’t much more than having one are crazy. Of course it is. Long gone are those days when you hand down clothes. Kids don’t want that. They all want phones and cars and electronics.”
He smiled at her. “You’re funny. But it’s true. The Five had two cars they had to share. And even that was generous of my aunt and uncle. They were used and The Five had to fight it out themselves or borrow one of their parents’ if they could.”
“What about you?” she asked.
“I bought my own. I worked and saved and got a used car that would get me to work and school. Devin did too. My parents helped out with the insurance and gave us each half to buy something.”
“That was nice,” she said.
“It was. Used cars back then didn’t cost what they do now. My parents helped with college too, but not a ton. We’ve had a great life and work hard but not a lot was handed to us. I had student loans, but they are done.”
“You’re probably like me and paid them off fast, didn’t you?”
“No reason to pay that interest. I lived at home for a few years after college to do that. I put money away to move out but wanted to be debt free before I got my own place.”
“So you did rent first?”
“Yes,” he said. “Not long. You know I had a girlfriend that lived with me. I got a place because no one wants to live at home when they are in their late twenties.”
She frowned. “I did.”
He pulled her close next to him. “Your situation was different and you know it.”
“I guess.” This went back to her trying to figure out how to move forward with her life.
“Kendra,” he said, taking the knife out of her hand. They were done with the veggies anyway. “You owned a house before I did. Much earlier than I did. An income property at that. That’s impressive.”
“I know,” she said. “But some might say I still live with my mother.”
“Not me,” he said. “Get it out of your head. You have your own space two floors up from her. It’s not the same thing. You stay here, you come and go when you want. It’s different. No one is watching you.”
“My mother can’t see me to watch,” she said, trying to make a joke.
“I know. I don’t want you to take offense to what I said. I understand your situation. I don’t have a problem with it. Now if you were still there when you were forty, that might be hard to handle.”
She laid her head on his shoulder. “No. I won’t be.” There was no reason to say she had an internal battle going right now on how to handle this.
