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She missed the islands and lifestyle, even though she was a kid in those days. But since her dad had died, nothing had been the same. Her mom was depressed and started drinking.
And had never stopped.
Now, it had impacted her health and was a serious issue. Nothing she said, or the doctors said, was making a difference, and her liver was damaged.
Sigh.
Things were not going as she had planned, and she was feeling pretty low these days. So, yeah, if Jacob’s visited cheered her up, put a smile on her face and blush on her cheeks, then she was going to enjoy it.
Leilani placed the sushi order online and then opened her spreadsheet.
But her mind was now on her mom.
It wasn’t just a serious issue.
Her mom was dying.
She had liver disease, and it was progressing fast. The technical term was cirrhosis. Her liver had been permanently scarred and couldn’t regenerate because there were not enough healthy cells left to heal.
It was a horrible disease and made worse because her mom wouldn’t stop drinking or even give herself the chance of having a transplant.
Until she did, they wouldn’t.
That would save her mom’s life. Apparently, she didn’t want it enough to give up the bottle.
Leilani glanced down at her keyboard and let the emotion pass. Losing her mom, her last living parent, was one thing, but it would mean she was left alone in the world.
Her entire family would be gone once her mom passed. Morbid thoughts, but this was her reality.
She had two nice friends: Vanessa and Amy. Both were married to their college sweethearts and Amy was pregnant and getting ready to have her first child.
To Leilani, it felt like she was growing away from her friends as she focused on her career and caring for her mom.
There was nothing wrong with that. She still cared for them very much. It was just that they seemed to have less and less in common as time went by.
In fact, Vanessa and Amy had been each other’s bridesmaids after becoming engaged around the same time, and she’d been excluded. They both explained that it was because their husbands had wanted a small wedding party, just a best man and maid of honor, but it had still hurt.
Leilani had smiled and not made a fuss.
Instead, she helped plan their bachelorette parties and laughed when Vanessa and Amy said they’d have to live vicariously through her now they were boring married women.
“What if I become a boring married woman soon?” she’d asked.
“You aren’t even dating.” Vanessa had laughed. “Please tell me you aren’t planning to elope in Vegas after a one-night stand.”
“God, Lani, no.” Amy had cried.
“What? No. But I could meet someone.” She had argued.
“Sure, but it’s probably going to be in your thirties now. You need to date.” Amy nodded.
Where all these rules came from, she didn’t know, but her friends weren’t wrong. She wasn’t dating. It didn’t help that her social circle was small...and now all coupled up.
At work, she’d met some nice people, but no one special. She did have lunch with one of the girls, Missy, who loved to gossip. Many of the things she shared made Leilani choke on her food.
As Blake's PA, it wasn’t appropriate for her to be heard gossiping, so she tried to divert the conversation, but she had learned quickly it would take a boulder for Missy to take a hint.
“Oh, oh, I didn’t tell you about Jeremy. He’s gay. Which is fine. I mean, I totally thought he was hetero but clearly, I’m totally not vibing right to miss that. Anyway, he was doing a presentation to the tech team last week and...no joke...farted.”
