Page 112 of Sing Your Secrets

thirty-three

Reese

On Sunday afternoon, I walk into Dad’s house to find Mom in the kitchen putting away groceries. I decided to arrive early to help cook. I didn’t expect the grocery extravaganza. She lights up when she sees me.

“There you are,” she says, tucking her sleek, platinum-blonde hair behind her ear with both hands.

“Here I am,” I parrot back. Dropping my satchel and my keys on the entryway table, I join her at the kitchen island. “Need a hand?”

“Please.”

Every inch of the island countertop and half of the dining room table is covered in brown plastic grocery bags. I begin to unpack them one by one to reveal boxes of sugary cereal, energy drinks, chips, and mini powdered donuts. “Mom, what kind of groceries are these?” I snort. “I haven’t seen you buy crap like this since late nights in law school.” Sugar is my mom’s study companion. Twizzlers are her absolute favorite. When she was really stressed about a paper, she’d ruminate while gnawing on the chewy candy like a dog tackles a rawhide—it was not attractive.

“These are requests from your dad and all your friends.” She pulls another box of Trix cereal from the bag she’s unpacking. “You should be concerned that your boyfriend thinks this counts as a serving of fruit.”

My shoulders bounce as I laugh. Miles eats much healthier than I do, but he too has a weakness for sugar during long nights in the studio.

“Mom, do you uh…want to learn to make kombucha together?”

She cocks her head to the side and stares at me like I have two heads. “What?”

“Miles and his mom were very close growing up. They learned to cook healthy together, garden, and make kombucha and sourdough bread. I don’t know…I just feel like they’re close because they learned something together. Do you want to do that with me? I know you said you wanted our relationship to be more than just lunch once a week.”

She crosses her arms and leans her hip against the counter. “I would love that, Reese.” She looks like she’s about to tear up, but after a quick sniffle, she composes herself. Poker face, on. “But does it have to be kombucha? Maybe we learn to paint mugs or make pizza or something?”

I laugh and nod my head enthusiastically. “Fair enough. That sounds good. How about the weekend after next?”

“Why not next weekend?”

“Um, herrlloo,” I say, “the grand opening of The Garage. Did you get your ticket by the way?”

“Right… Remind me why I had to pay for my ticket if I know the owner…or the owners? Is it Petey or Miles—I still don’t understand.”

“Petey owns the building, Miles and his cousin are operating the business…for now. And everybody had to pay. It looks better to bring in big revenue on opening night. All my friends paid, Miles’s family paid, even I paid. You’re a corporate lawyer, Mom. I think you can handle the twenty bucks.”

She holds her palms up in surrender. “I’m not complaining. Sheesh, just asking. Down girl.” She winks as she resumes unpacking plastic bags.

“Hey, since we’re on the subject—do you think you could represent me in a legal business matter?”

She immediately stills as her eyes narrow. “What’s wrong?” she asks coolly.

“Nothing,” I assure her. “It’s just The Garage.”

“What about it?”

“Petey’s giving it to me and his lawyer is preparing the paperwork. It’d be nice if I could have a lawyer on my side review it too. I don’t exactly know all the details about selling and buying a business, especially if there’s a physical property.”

The silence is deafening for a moment, but my mom breaks it with a thunderous roar. “What?!”

“We’re in a good place, Mom. Petey and I are actually friends now—”

“That’s not my main concern, Reese. We’ll come back to that.” Mom’s entire demeanor changes. Her relaxed pose goes rigid, and she suddenly looks three inches taller. Her chest puffs and her lips press together in a firm line. This is exactly how she looks in a courtroom. “What the hell are you going to do with The Garage?”

“Um, run it? Miles and I have already been working on acts to fill the venue. We’ve got a lot of interest. We’ve pretty much booked every weekend through the end of October. It’s not just music, we’re taking comedy acts, club reservations, everything. It’s going to be a good place for the community to come together. It’s going to be a win-win, for everyone.”

“Do you have any idea the amount of responsibility it is to run a business like that? In this economy, you’ll be lucky if you break even.”

“Petey is gifting me the building.”

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