Page 58 of The Charming Checklist
“We’re right in here,” Susannah said from the kitchen. “Come on in.”
Ava opened the door and let herself inside. “I’m glad you two are getting along.”
“I’m having such a great time with your mother. She’ssucha kick.”
Dr. Katherine Long? A kick?
Her mother sat at the kitchen table with Susannah, Doodle the cockapoo in her lap. She looked relaxed, happy and...she wore jeans.Jeans. And a... Was that a tie-dyedT-shirtfrom the local boutique? Her hair was in a ponytail. A ponytail!
Ava blinked.“Mom?”
“Did you have a good day?” She beamed, ruffling Doodle’s fur. “I did a little more shopping and found this incredible boutique.”
“What are you wearing? Jeans?”
Her mother stood, setting Doodle down, and showed off the ensemble. “I’d forgotten how jeans tend to accentuate all my best features.”
They were tight and...well, disturbing. Even when they’d been on vacation as a family, Mom never wore jeans.
“I think she looks great. Honey, listen, I invited your mother to the Almost Dead Poet Society meeting tonight,” Susannah said. “You’re welcome too, of course.”
“We should go, Ava! Are you busy tonight, maybe with Max?”
Max usually hung out with Cole during the poetry meetings that Valerie always attended. One of the few times Valerie and Cole were apart these days.
“I’m usually busy tonight and can’t make it. But I decided to skip the town hall meeting. They don’t need me. I...just try to be supportive.”
“Perfect. This might be the only time you can attend,” Susannah said.
She didn’t want to break it to Susannah, but the poetry club was not where she’d prefer to spend her free time. Valerie had given her the 411 on it, and even she wouldn’t attend except to support her grandmother.
Their poetry supposedly gave new meaning to the wordamateur, but if this would get her mother to open up and tell Ava what thehellwas going on with her, it would be worth it.
Chapter Seventeen
“Thank you for coming,” Valerie said as she enveloped Ava in a hug. “Finally, someone my age at these meetings.”
“Valerie, meet my mother. Dr. Katherine Long.”
“So nice to meet you,” Mom said, extending her hand. “Please call me Katherine. Susannah invited me to attend.”
For the meeting, Mom had changed into her normal casual attire of slacks and a silky blouse top, giving Ava hope that she hadn’t completely lost her mind. Whatever else was going on, she was stillMom, unable to leave the house wearing more than two colors.
Both Ava and her mother were introduced to the rest of the senior citizen gang. There were people Ava mostly knew through her volunteer work at the senior citizen community center in town. Patsy Villanueva was Valerie’s grandmother, now recovering nicely from a stroke she’d had a few months ago. Etta May Virgil led the group and was Patsy’s neighbor, as were Lois and Roy Finch, the sole man in the group.
There were a few folding chairs arranged to make a circle with the couch. Mom sat next to Susannah.
“The speaker stands in the middle to recite their poem,” Valerie said to Ava. “I just sit here and try to be supportive. Be sure to clap when I do. Here, have a cookie. It makes the minutes bearable. And please, please, please don’t judge me when you hear my grandmother’s poem. I honestly don’t know how we could be related.”
“I often wondered the same about me and my mother,” Ava mused, taking a bite of chocolate chip cookie.
She should have really brought her coffee beans to this meeting and served the group. Maybe if she ever showed up again. She’d already offered to serve her coffee at the senior assisted living center, but too many of them had switched to decaf on doctor’s orders.
They began with Mr. Finch, whose beautiful poem was about Texas. When it came to inanimate objects, Mr. Finch threw his voice to make it sound like the truck was talking.
Valerie clapped, and of course so did Ava.
“It’s going to be tough to beat that one.”
