Page 64 of Lucy Loves Him Not
“Do you think Mom going on this trip is a good idea?” I asked. Mom had decided to spontaneously tag along with a couple of book club friends on a backpacking trip.“It’ll be like Wild!”she said to convince me.
“Sure, why not?” Olivia shrugged.
“Mom. Backpacking. In the woods.” I emphasized each word to clarify how none of them fit together.
“She’s in her fifties. She’s a grown woman. She knows what she can and can’t handle.”
“Mom isn’t thinking. She cut back her work hours and is trying to live it up, which I’m happy about. But she could get hurt out in the wild! She could get kidnap?—”
“Lucy, come on.” Olivia rolled her eyes.
“I’m serious. I know you guys thought about having an intervention for me. I think Mom needs an intervention before she’s off in the woods tomorrow! I mean, she wouldn’t even step foot in RVs growing up. I’ve never even seen a tent in person.”
“She’s trying something new!”
“What if we talked to her friends? Maybe we could put them up with a?—”
“You are going to embarrass Mom!” Olivia stepped in front of me and put her hand up to stop me. “We are not going to intervene! She’s one of the smartest, strongest women we know. I think she’llhate the trip, but I know she can handle it.”
“I know she’s smart and strong. I just think she doesn’t always look out for herself like she does for us,” I explained. I hated the idea that Mom didn’t have someone to look out for her.
Olivia wrapped her arm around me and pulled me in for a squeeze. “You can send her your little ‘checking in’ texts every day of her trip, okay? But we’ve got to let her live her life. She lets us, even when we’re being dumb.”
“Fine. But if she comes back with an injury…”
“Have you and Adam talked yet?” Olivia swiftly changed the subject.
“We ran into each other at Coffees and Commas earlier. It felt like we were both handling the conversationdelicately,but it ended on a good note. We’re meeting tomorrow, too.” My chest swelled at the thought of seeing him tomorrow.
“Are you going to talk about thesomethingbetween you two?” She wiggled her eyebrows.
I chewed on my lip. “I don’t know. I’m trying to find the right time. Also, I’m not sure where we are after he vanished on me for a few days. I want to get a read on everything.”
“Did you ask him why he vanished?”
“I mentioned it. He said he was crunched at work.”
“The festival is almost here. Only a couple of weeks away. He probably is facing a time crunch.” She winced.
I nodded. “The whole team is.”
“Plus, in his perspective, he went from you literally running off to a date with some other guy to you two sort of fighting over who was to blame for something at work. You’re over here realizing you both have feelings…and he might be feelingthe exact opposite,” Olivia said, stopping to let Winston sniff a random patch of grass.
Adam, with his intention and desire to do things well and right, was probably trying to handle his feelings like he does his paperwork. Trying to get his heart and mind organized and in line. But I had stormed into his office weeks ago and thrown it into disarray.
Twenty-Three
Me
Mom has officially left for her trip. Into the wild. Nothing but a backpack.
Gracie
oops, I forgot! saying a prayer now
Olivia
GRACIE? Did you actually enter the chat?! Am I hallucinating this entire thread??
