Page 176 of After All This Time

“It would be my pleasure.”

“Celia!” Mom shouts.

“Laura, just let the kids do this for Lizzie. Let them have their time to bond.”

Bonding time. Yeah, maybe this isn’t a good idea.

Celia senses Mom’s hesitation. “Let’s take this outside.” She wraps her arm around Mom’s shoulder, leading her over to the chairs hanging out in front of the room.

“I’ll be right back,” I say to my sister and Dani.

I run out of the room to catch up with Mom and Celia. When I do, I tap Mom on the shoulder and meet her confused gaze.

“Can I talk to you for a minute?”

“Of course,” she says.

“I’ll be waiting by the elevators,” Celia says as she rubs Mom’s back before she walks over to the elevators.

“How are you doing with all this?” I ask her.

“I don’t even know how to answer that to be completely honest with you.”

“That’s how I feel.”

“How is anyone supposed to feel when their husband and their child get into a car accident? And then their husband passes away.” She closes her eyes, her lips quivering.

“Lizzie isn’t a child though,” I say in the hopes of stopping any tears from coming out of her brown eyes.

“Oh, honey, you’re always going to be my children. I don’t care if you’re forty. I will still call you my child.”

I chuckle. “Fair enough.”

She studies my face and body language thoroughly. “There’s something you’re not telling me.”

“What?”

“I know you’re an adult, but you know you can talk to me about anything. You know that, right?”

I exhale, reaching my arms out and placing my hands on her shoulders.

“Dani and I are together.”

She rapidly blinks her eyes, moving her head around. “So, that means you guys are…” She waits for me to finish her thought for her.

“Dating.”

She nods in slow motion. “I see.”

“You’re freaking me out, Mom.”

“It’s a lot of information to absorb.”

“How? It was one sentence.”

She huffs. “Your dad knew this would happen. He told me you two getting together was inevitable.”

Inevitable is beginning to become one of my favorite words ever.

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