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Brie chokes on her drink.
My hand goes to her back, and I take the hot chocolate from her. “You okay?”
She coughs. “Fine. I’m fine.”
I jump up and find her a glass of water. “Drink this.”
She gulps it down. “Thanks.”
Her voice is still scratchy, and I feel a little guilty.
“See,” Mom says, “you’re even making Brie uncomfortable with all this moving talk. If someone has to relocate, why can’t it be you? There’s plenty of room here, you’re working more online these days, and you’d see Brie more often. It’s a win-win.”
I wasn’t prepared for this sudden reversal. “Uh . . .”
Brie jumps in and saves me. “Didn’t you say we were going to walk to the pond?”
I scratch my neck. “Yes . . . I did.”
“What a lovely idea.” Mom takes my mug out of my way. “I’ll get this cleaned up while you two talk for a minute.”
Why do I feel like she’s won the argument and I’ve lost? Again. For the moment, I don’t care as much as I do about getting out of the house. Brie and I grab our coats. The cold is refreshingly brisk on my hot face. My feet move one in front of the other toward the pond. Brie rushes to keep pace as I walk around the house and away from the barn.
“I thought that went well.”
I look over my shoulder. “In what way did it go well?”
“I didn’t die from choking?”
I chuckle and slow my pace so she can catch up. “Thatisa relief.”
“So, when are you moving back to Bearwood?” I know she’s teasing me, so I tease her back.
“Next week. I love living in my unfurnished duplex and dreaming of cats attacking my face.”
“I hear you have a pretty great neighbor.”
I know she’s trying to cheer me up. She has a knack for it. I bump my arm with hers. “She’s alright.”
“Alright enough to tell you I don’t think you’re going to convince your mom?”
I sigh, long and slow. “I worry about her. She’s so far from a decent hospital. She can’t travel as much as she used to either. I know I can come here more, but it’s not the same as her being in LA with me every day, minutes from the best doctors. I have two tickets home for the day after Christmas. I really hoped she'd come.”
“I know it’s not much, but I can come out to the farm on the weekends, and I know my mom sees her once a week for book club.”
“Thanks, it means a lot. Maybe I should move back.” My foot fumbles when the thought lands. Wow, I can’t believe I even thought that. Maybe it’s because I finally agreed to visit Dad next summer that I’m thinking I might as well throw my life around some more. I shake my head. I must be crazy. “I have a whole life I’ve built in LA. It would be hard to walk away.”
“We’ll figure out a compromise,” Brie says, reading my emotions like an open book. “Don’t worry too much yet.”
All I’ve done is worry about Mom lately. “Did you mean it when you said it’s okay to not be fine?” Right now, I feel like the poster child for not being fine.
Brie nods decisively. “We all go through hard seasons. That’s part of life.”
I shove my hands in my coat pockets. “I agree. We each have our struggles, and the Davenports are clearly in the relationship department.”
Brie stops abruptly. “Rocky, you’re not your dad.”
She doesn’t know that. I face her so I can explain why she’s wrong. “We share the same genes. We both love basketball, have the same annoying cowlick, and get stomachaches when we eat too much ice cream. Look at Morgan. She’s certainly struggled. And I’m not without my own mistakes.”
