“I have never missed a Thanksgiving with you or the kids.”
“You have also never loved cooking and cleaning all day. We’ll be fine. Me. The kids. All of us.”
“Who will cook the turkey?”
“We’ll probably have pizza. But I’ll roast a turkey if it will make you feel better.”
The kids wouldn’t care, but still, the thought of not being with her family didn’t feel right. “What about Mom and Dad? What if they need me?” Nora was feeling as if the whole world might crumble the minute she stepped on that plane.
“I’ll drop everything and drive to Whispering Pines,” he said. “The kids will come, too,” he added, as if he could read her mind. He glanced at his watch again. “I should go.”
They kissed goodbye, and she watched him disappear down the stairs and out the door, wishing she’d never agreed to go to Paris next week. She had a family, and despite all the praises Jane had given the trade show, Nora had done her own research. She didn’t need to fly to another country to find leads and sell product. Her shoulders drooped. She already had her ticket and itinerary, and she didn’t want to disappoint Jane, so she would go.
Downstairs in the kitchen, she found Trevor eating Honey Nut Cheerios and Hailey pouring herself a cup of coffee. “Since when do you drink coffee?”
Hailey took a sip, appearing to savor the taste, which made her look ridiculous.
“For a month, at least,” Trevor said.
Hailey rolled her eyes. “Why does it matter? Auntie Jane says it’s perfectly fine for me to drink a cup of coffee in the morning, especially since I don’t drink soda.”
“Auntie Jane?”
Trevor grunted. “I know. Right?”
“Is that a problem?” Hailey asked. “I thought she was your friend.”
“Well, we don’t really know each other that well,” Nora said. “But you don’t call Stacy or Laura your auntie, and you’ve known them forever.”
“Jane is younger and cooler. And she is so happy to be a part of our family. After she told me how she envies people who have nieces and nephews, I decided to call her Auntie Jane, and she was thrilled.”
Nora didn’t know what to think about that. She didn’t like it, that’s for sure. Nora pointed at the coffee in Hailey’s hand. “You’re going to stain your teeth with that stuff. When they take off your braces, it’s going to look like train tracks.” She glanced at the clock hanging above the kitchen sink. “Are you two ready to go?”
“I’m ready,” Trevor said.
“You don’t have to worry about me,” Hailey said. “Alex is picking me up.”
“That’s a big no.”
“Why? Like I told you before, we go to the same school. He said it would be no problem picking me up.”
“I don’t know him well enough. The answer is still no.”
“I told you,” Trevor said to his sister.
“Shut up.”
Nora had had enough of her daughter’s uppity attitude. “Call him right now and tell him you don’t need a ride.”
Hailey narrowed her eyes.
“Right now,” Nora said, “or I’ll find his number and do it myself.”
Nora had spent the first half of her day putting out small fires in the office caused by communication problems and inadequate job descriptions. It was lunchtime, and she needed a break. She felt tense and irritable. As she headed for her car, she found herself wondering why she had taken the job in the first place. It was challenging. Check. She was working with intelligent, like-minded women who wanted to make a difference. Check. The pay was more than decent. Check. So why was she feeling so stressed out? “Don’t be ridiculous, Nora. You know why,” she muttered under her breath. Dad wasn’t doing well, Hailey was acting up, and she felt as if Trevor needed her close by. To make matters worse, she couldn’t remember the last time she and David had gone out on the town alone, just to talk and spend quality time together. And then there was Jane.
She rubbed the back of her neck. Her problems had nothing to do with Jane. It wasn’t Jane’s fault that Hailey thought Jane was super-duper cool and had decided to call her “Auntie Jane.” It wasn’t Jane’s fault that Nora hadn’t been paying enough attention to her diet and exercise routine, which was literally nonexistent. Everything else was called life. Parents got older, and teenagers brought their parents joy and frustration in equal amounts. It was all part of life. Time for less worrying and more self-care and mindfulness.
She could do this. Everything would be fine. She pointed her key fob at her car. After she returned from Paris, she would join a gym, maybe talk to a nutritionist. Once she had a healthier mindset, she would be better equipped to deal with Hailey and Trevor and help Mom and Dad.
“Nora!”
Before sliding in behind the wheel of her car, Nora turned around. Jane was walking her way.
“I’m so glad I caught you before you left,” Jane said. “I was hoping we could grab some lunch together and go over next week’s itinerary.”
Nora swallowed. Her mind had gone blank.
Jane leaned forward, her gaze on Nora’s face. “What’s wrong?”
Nora’s shoulders sank as she inwardly scolded herself for being so transparent. She felt like crying. To think only seconds ago, she’d thought her stupid pep talk might have done her some good.
“Oh, come here.” Jane wrapped her arms around her. “Everything is going to be okay,” she said, her voice soothing, calming. Jane took a step back and said in that determined, slightly aggressive way of hers, “Let’s go get some ice cream. Everyone knows that ice cream makes everything better.”
Jane closed Nora’s car door, grabbed hold of Nora’s hand, and led her toward her red BMW parked a few cars away. After tucking Nora safely into the passenger seat, she came around the front of the car, slid in behind the wheel, and sped off.
Fifteen minutes later, they were sitting on a bench in Capitol Park eating ice cream from one of the local shops. Hot fudge sundaes for both. While getting in and out of the car, standing in line at the ice-cream shop, and finding the perfect park bench with a view of the rose garden, Jane managed, quite easily at that, to get Nora to tell her everything that was bothering her—leaving David behind while she went to Paris, Hailey’s uppity attitude, and her father’s illness.
“I know I’ve said this a zillion times since we met,” Jane said, “but you have a beautiful family. We’ve both been teenagers before, and we know Hailey will come around. She’s testing her wings before it’s time to take flight in a few years.”
Nora groaned. “That’s part of the problem. I’m not ready for her to take flight.”
“Well, you can’t stop time. And besides, it’s your job as a mother to make sure your kids are prepared to go out there and make things happen. You want them to be strong with a touch of stubbornness.” Jane made a fist to go along with her semiangry expression. “They need to be tough so that they won’t get gobbled up by that great big world out there.”