Page 25 of Never Really Over

I bite my lip and think a little bit. “It’s a little bit of weird timing because I was thinking of making a change, too.”

“Oh?”

Looking around the house, I can’t help but have this instant feeling that leaving would be a mistake. I don’t know if it’s because I feel like I have so many things unfinished here?

“You don’t want to come back to Chicago, do you?” he asks me.

I shake my head. “I don’t think I do.”

“Think or know? Because that’s going to be a big change and you need to be certain.”

The minute he asks me, the answer is clear to me.

“I know.”

He sits back in his seat, rocking his office chair back and forth a few times before a smile breaks out across his face. “Good answer.”

“But you just offered me a job and I told you I was looking at leaving the company.”

“First of all, you only said you want to stay there in, Hollow Grove, is it?”

I nod once, swallow. “Yeah.”

“And that doesn’t change anything about my job offer. I told you I quite enjoy working from home a little more. What we do can be done from anywhere now that we have Zoom. If we need to have face-to-face meetings, I’ll come to Iowa.”

I’m shocked. Truly shocked.

“Are you serious right now?”

“One hundred percent. I would love to have you on board with me. If you’re looking for a complete career change, that’s a different story, but you’re damn good at your job and I think we could build a great partnership.”

“I’m just… speechless, honestly.”

“First time for everything,” he quips.

“Ha ha ha. You’re hilarious.”

He grins, making the skin around his eyes crinkle. “Is that a yes?”

“Well, it’s definitely not a no,” I pause and look behind me again to make sure Mom’s not walking in and lower my voice to say, “You do understand that Mom’s a priority right now, right? I need to continue to have the flexibility that you’ve given me in order to care for her if I need to.”

“Of course. But, and don’t take this wrong or like I’m heartless and not empathetic of the situation, however, you do understand that this is only a misstep and she’ll be back to herself soon, right?”

“Well, that’s the hope.”

“Yes, that’s what we’re praying for, of course, but I don’t want you to —”

“Give up my life for my mother?”

“I suppose that’s one way to put it, but that’s not what I meant.”

“I know,” I sigh and rub my forehead, scrunching my eyes out of frustration. I know what he means and I agree. “Okay, since you’ve been like an uncle or even father to me for the past twelve years, I suppose it’s time to tell you a little about myself.”

“You’re finally going to crack?” Stan asks, eyes dancing.

I roll my eyes. “My mother raised me alone. Not for the same reasons you were a single dad.”

“Not to stop you before you get started, but I figured as much already. And not because you act a certain way, but because the last time Maureen was out for a visit and I had dinner with the two of you? You’d gone to the bathroom and she and I got talking about being single parents. She’d said something about how glad she was that I was in your life because she didn’t have a good father figure. Something in the way she said it made me think it wasn’t because your father had passed.”

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