AllFreeNovel
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“I’m not making you.” She smiled at me and reached across the table, patting the top of my hand like she had since I was a kid. “We’ll figure everything out. We always do, don’t we?”
I sighed softly. “We do.”
“Good. Now let’s eat up. My favorite cheesecake is on the dessert menu, and since this is our last meal together for a while, you can share a slice…or two…with me.”
We stood outside the restaurant. The valet was bringing her car up. I was walking back to the law office for my last afternoon. It wasn’t that busy out. The sky was gray and depressing overhead, but the forecasted snow hadn’t started yet. I had to admit, I was not going to miss leaving that behind. My apartment was pretty much cleared out; everything had been shipped already. I was leaving in less than forty-eight hours to a brand-new life.
She straightened the scarf around my neck. I could tell she was blinking back a couple of tears as she re-tied it for the third time.
“Mom…” I said quietly.
She nodded, not daring to raise her gaze to mine. “I know. I’m coming to visit in a few weeks.”
“Coming to check up on me, you mean.”
“You call it one thing, I call it another.”
“We both know what it is.”
“We do.” She smiled softly and took a step back. We could see her car coming around the corner. “And don’t worry about Abbie. You two will work it out.”
“It’s over, Mom. I’ve accepted it.”
“No, you haven’t. You both just need a little time.”
“We haven’t spoken since the airport. I think that’s telling me all I need to know.”
“All you need to know is that the girl is hurt. And I don’t blame her. I’d be hurt, too, with what you said.”
“I didn’t tell you…”
“I know you well enough to know what you likely said and how she likely took it. You two have loved each other for far too long—”
“Love?”
“Love. She is the only one who has been to our Thanksgivings, your birthdays, our anniversary. The two of you click, you mesh well, and you messed it up. You’ll have to grovel a little, but it may be time you learned how to do that, too.” She patted my cheek. “So much like your father. Have faith. You two waited almost five years to get together. I think that kinda means something, don’t you?”
“Gluttons for punishment?”
“Then you’re in your wheelhouse with this.” She kissed my cheek as the valet pulled up. “Call me when you land. And I want to see where you’re staying.”
“Love you, Mom.”
“Love you, too.” She smiled, her eyes a little glossy. “I’ll phone you tonight.”
“Don’t see Abbie,” I warned her.
“I wouldn’t dream of it.”
***
Los Angeles was different.
Everything was different.
Every time something interesting happened, I wanted to call Abbie. Text her.
I’d start typing it out, but never hit send.
