Page 44 of Falling into Place
“Mom?” Carly called out as she stepped onto the small patio. On the bistro table to her left lay a spread of bread and cheese, plates, utensils, and two bowls.
“Out here.” Her mom’s voice came from somewhere in the garden. “Just grabbing some herbs for the gazpacho. Could you get it from the fridge?”
“Sure.”
When Carly returned, her mom was sitting at the table picking cilantro leaves from the stems. Once she added a handful and mixed it together, her mom used a ladle to scoop a serving of soup while Carly filled her plate with way too much cheese.
“How’s work?” Carly asked. Her mom had recently been promoted to senior administrative assistant at the ad agency where she worked, and while she’d been thrilled with the move, she’d been nervous about the added responsibilities. “Has it been better this week?”
“So much better. I only needed time to settle in, I think.”
“Really?” Carly feigned surprise. “Weird.”
Her mom rolled her eyes. “Yes, I know. It’s exactly what you said would happen.”
Carly just grinned and took a bite of sharp cheddar.
“I never understood when people talked about loving their job. I figured going to work was just a means to an end, you know?” her mom said. “But I get it now. I look forward to it every single day and never dread going to work like I did when I was in retail. I love knowing that I’m the most organized person in the entire office and everything will run smoothly because of me.” She looked down at the table. “I’ve never felt so useful, fulfilled, and ... well, proud of myself, I guess.”
“I love that for you, Mom,” Carly said. She was proud of her, too.
“I partly have you to thank, you know.”
“Me? Why?”
“Seeing how passionate you are about your job made me want the same thing. At Mode, I mean,” she clarified. “I know you don’t mind accounting, but I’ve never seen you get as excited over math as you do for the Nordstrom Anniversary Sale.”
“Who in their right mind would be excited about anything more than the Nordstrom Anniversary Sale?”
“Not you, clearly, which just proves how perfect personal styling is for you. I’ll never forget that story about the science teacher you helped last year. Chris, or something?”
“Christian,” Carly said, and couldn’t help but smile. She’d adored working with that client—a middle-aged English teacher who’d contacted Mode for help finding something to wear to a school fundraiser he’d worked all year for. He and Carly bonded over their favorite books as they wandered through TJ Maxx. As a teacher, he’d had a limited budget for clothes, and she’d taught him all her tips and tricks for sifting through the overfilled racks at discount department stores. “He met his husband, Nick, at that event. It all started with a compliment about the shoes we’d picked out, and the rest was history.”
“I still remember how you lit up talking about it, and thinking how badly I wanted a job that made me that happy. Honestly, I’m a little surprised you haven’t tried making a career out of it.”
Carly shifted in her chair. She usually kept her thoughts about balancing both jobs to herself when it came to her mom. As far as her mom knew, she was perfectly content sticking with accounting and dabbling in fashion on the side ... as more of a hobby. She’d never hinted at the fact she wanted to put everything she had into personal styling and definitely hadn’t mentioned the reasons she was hesitant to do so. Her fears of financial insecurity stemmed directly from her mom’s decisions during Carly’s childhood, and she didn’t want to say anything that might make her mom feel guilty.
“Maybe someday,” Carly said noncommittally.
That seemed to be enough for Carly’s mom, because she sat back with a smile. “So have you heard from Benjamin lately?” Her momhad adored Benjamin from the moment she’d met him and might have taken the breakup harder than Carly had.
“We FaceTimed a couple of days ago, which was nice. I hadn’t seen his face for weeks. He was at a lunch thing and I was about to go to bed, so we didn’t talk long. But he’s still really enjoying it and said he met someone based out of Texas who’ll be a great job contact when he finishes up.”
Her mom waggled her eyebrows. “That sounds promising! Texas is a lot closer than South Korea.”
“That’s what I said.”
After taking a sip of water, her mom gripped her hands in her lap and cleared her throat, then picked up her glass and put it down again.
Carly frowned. “What’s up, Mom?”
Her mom smoothed a few flyaways from her face. “I, um, have something else I wanted to talk to you about. I’ve sort of been ... seeing someone.”
“Dr. Gantz?” Her mom (and Carly, occasionally) had seen a therapist off and on since rehab. Was she struggling with temptation again?
“No. Not that. I meant I’ve been seeing a man. Romantically.”
Carly’s brain briefly tripped overromanticallybefore settling on surprise. “Wow, really? For how long?”
