Page 51 of Waiting for Her

“You have no faith in me. We won’t wear them yet. I’m not about to jinx it.”

“Mom! I was joking! You do not have Team Grady t-shirts!”

“Sure we do!”

In the background I hear Andy shout, “Should I get mine on now?”

I blink. What is this world I live in? I don’t understand.

“BTW, Hazel has two. One she wears to bed every night.”

I bark out a laugh. “Mom, you’re not supposed to say btw. You’re supposed to say ‘by the way’!”

“I don’t think that’s true. People say LOL all the time.”

She can’t be serious.

“No. They really don’t.”

“Yes. They do.”

I pinch the bridge of my nose. “Not in real life! Just in texts and stuff!”

“Well, how the heck am I supposed to differentiate the two?”

“Let me get this straight. You’ve been walking around town, selling coffee to people saying LOL, BTW and TBH?”

“I don’t walk around town selling coffee, Bri. I wait until they come into Dreamin’ Beans,” she scoffs likeI’mthe ridiculous one.

“And then you spout off weird acronyms?”

“They’re not weird. People use them all the time.”

“I don’t even know how to process this. I thought…”

She bursts out laughing and I hear her hand slap against what sounds like her leg. In the back ground I hear Andy’s deep chuckle. “What’s so funny?”

“You are. You’re so damn gullible. Of course I don’t say those out loud. I’m not a total moron.”

Thank goodness. “And the Team Grady shirts?”

“Oh, we have those.”

“Mom!”

Lord, give me the strength.

“What? They’re for us to wear to his first game! Not the way you think. Not everything is about you,” she teases.

“Ugh. I’m starting to regret that I called you.”

“Oh stop. I got you to relax and stop thinking about how Grady still gets your motor running for a split second.”

Did she just say… “My motor running? Mom! Are you drunk?”

“I will have you know, I did not day drink.”

“I’m not sure that makes me feel any better.”

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