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“Sushi,” Jo said instantly.
Tracy bobbed her head excitedly before removing the contents of the bag.
“Where can we eat?” she asked, looking around the furniture-less room.
“Right here.” Jo pointed to the floor before lowering herself onto it.
After handing the food to her mother, Tracy followed suit and sat across from her.
Jo began to salivate as soon as she opened the covered container to see the array of choices her daughter had gotten her. There were maki, temaki, uramaki, rigiri and sashimi. The scent of the fresh fish intermingled with the spices used to make the rolls assayed her senses.
“Mm, these smells wonderful,” she gushed, casting her gaze over to her daughter. “Thanks, sweetie.”
Tracy gave her a warm smile before digging into her own plate.
Jo moaned in pleasure the second she placed the roll into her mouth. Her taste buds were bursting with a plethora of flavors, from the mild flavor of the salmon topping to the delicate sweet and sour taste of the peach slices embedded in the seaweed-wrapped rice cake and the slightly tangy, slightly salty soy sauce dip.
“Mandolin?” she asked, referring to the sushi and steak house they used to frequent often.
“You know it couldn’t have been from anywhere else, Mom,” Tracy confirmed with a grin.
The two settled in comfortable silence as they continued to enjoy their meal.
“So, are you ready for college?” Jo finally broke the silence to ask her daughter. Tracy had deferred her acceptance to study journalism at the University of Washington Tacoma for a year after the accident but would be attending in the fall.
Tracy stopped eating to answer her mother. “I am,” she said as her mouth widened into a smile, then it dropped as a troubled look flitted across her face. “But I’m also nervous.” Tracy looked down at her plate and sighed.
Jo waited for her to continue.
“I know it’s only been a year, yet it feels like it’s been longer, and I’m having these thoughts that I won’t be able to keep up. Josh says it’s just precollege jitters and that it’ll pass as soon as I officially start,” Tracy confessed.
Jo gave her daughter a look of understanding. “Josh may just be right, and I want to add that you are already a very smart and talented young woman, and I am confident that you will do well.”
Tracy gave her mother a grateful smile. “Thanks, Mom. I really needed to hear that.”
Jo leaned over to take her daughter’s hand in hers and gave it an encouraging squeeze that Tracy returned.
“How is my handsome son-in-law, by the way?” she asked.
At this, the light in Tracy’s eyes returned. “Josh is great. He’s been so wonderful, and sometimes I don’t know what I did to deserve him.”
Jo understood that giddy feeling her daughter was experiencing toward her fiancé. It was the same way she had felt about Tracy’s father— unable to prevent a smile from forming on her lips or the butterflies from making an appearance whenever she thought or spoke about him. Her daughter was in love, and she was happy for her. She prayed Josh would never do anything to cause her daughter to lose the stars that she carried in her eyes for him. Her smile wavered, and her heart clenched as her thoughts ventured away from the present.
“His granddad is thinking of retiring and leaving the dealership to him as early as next year.”
Her daughter’s excitement broke through her reverie. Jo willed her smile to return. “That is wonderful news, sweetie. I’m happy for him, for both of you,” she congratulated.
Tracy beamed at her mother. “So, have you told Grandma and Aunt Cora and Andrea that you’re moving back to Oak Harbor?” she asked after a beat.
“No, not yet.” Jo confessed. “I want it to be a surprise.” She had decided to return to her childhood home to help her sisters take care of the family business and their sick mother, but even up to last week, she wondered if the decision was a wise one considering the history with her family. It was true that after the funeral, they had made up after more than twenty years apart, but it still felt as if they were all strangers, and she wasn’t sure how their dynamics would go once she returned. Still, it was a better choice than remaining in a city that reminded her so much with every turn she made of all that she’d lost last year. So, after selling the house, she quit her job and was now preparing herself to drive home.
After finishing their meals, Tracy helped her mother to get the last of her luggage into the tailgate of her matte green RAV4.
“I love you, Mom. Please drive safe.” Tracy hugged her mother tightly.
Jo brought her hand up to rub it against her daughter’s long hair. “I love you, too, sweetie. I’ll call you when I get there.”
When the two separated, Jo entered her car and started the engine. She looked over and gave her daughter one last warm smile that Tracy returned.
“I’ll visit for Grandma’s birthday and maybe stay for a week,” Tracy informed her mother before stepping away from the car.
“Okay, sweetie. See you in a few weeks.” Jo slowly backed out of the driveway before waving goodbye to her daughter and taking off for the highway.
