“Reese, stop waiting to find love. The timing will never be perfect. You can’t pass up opportunities. When the right person comes along, you should grab him. Nothing would make me happier than you finding love. Like I found with Rose.” She reached over and squeezed Rose’s leg. “Like Angie and Fisher. I want the people who mean the most to me to have the best life has to offer.”
“What if she just wants to work and finish school?” Fisher said. “What if she wants to live freely like I did at her age? What if she doesn’t want one man? What if she wants a different guy every night because …” He shrugged. “Why the fuck not? Why rush into anything?”
I wasn’t sure who was in more shock, me or Rory. On the one hand, he was kind of sticking up for me. On the other hand, did he believe the things he said to her? Did Fisher think I was still too young? Was that our fate? Our reality?
When I was seventy, was he still going to play the age card?
“Reese, you might have a little arthritis, but wait until you’re eighty and you can’t get out of bed in the morning without a handful of pain meds consumed with a stiff drink.”
Rose did a commendable job of taking Rory’s hot dog from her and getting it on a bun with ketchup and mustard, acting like it wasn’t the most uncomfortable conversation.
“Is that what you want, Reese? Just … random hookups? Have you completely left your religious morals behind?”
“Well …” I wasn’t sure how to answer that. How to make the whole conversation end or shift the focus to someone besides me. “Maybe there’s something between marriage and sleeping with three guys a week. Maybe I can just focus on my job and let my love life happen organically without being fixed up right now.” I took a big bite of my hot dog. “But thanks,” I mumbled over the food in my mouth.
Rory was just looking out for her daughter. And a few months earlier, I would have been really excited about Dr. Awesome.
After another hour of fire, beer, and marshmallows, Rory and Rose escaped into the woods to do their business.
As soon as I felt confident they were out of earshot, I kicked Fisher’s leg.
“What was that for?” Fisher narrowed his eyes at me.
“You think I should be with a different guy every night?”
“I think I hate asking you to wait for me to get my life straightened out.”
That wasn’t the answer I wanted. “I’m going to catch up with them.” With a flashlight in hand, I stomped my way into the woods.
“Reese …”
I didn’t respond.
By the time we returned to the campsite, Fisher had extinguished the fire and returned the chairs to the back of his truck.
“Fisher? You ready for bed?” Rory called.
“Yup,” he called from inside his tent. “I went potty and brushed my teeth. Thanks, Mom.”
Rory laughed. “Okay. Night.”
I started to unzip the door to my tent.
“Night, sweetie. See you in the morning, birthday girl.” Rory hugged me and so did Rose.
“Night.” Turning on the lantern light for my tent, I paused on my knees just before zipping my door shut. My sleeping bag was laid out along with an extra blanket and my pillow at the top with a note on it.
I’ll ask anyway … wait for me.
Taking the note, I hugged it to my chest, then I changed into my thermal leggings and matching long-sleeved shirt before crawling into my sleeping bag and shutting off the light.
It took me forever to get to sleep, probably because Rory and Rose were up so late playing mancala. Then a little after two in the morning, I woke from the cold, tossing and turning, unable to get warm. After letting my teeth chatter for nearly another half hour, I wrapped the blanket around me, shoved my feet into my shoes, and tiptoed to Fisher’s tent.