Chapter 3 #2
After karaoke, we helped Jax with her closing tasks, then headed back to the house where the three of us had a sleepover in the guestroom together. We spent the night talking until we all passed out, Olivia sleeping in the middle at her insistence.
The next day, I had to fight to hold back my tears when we said goodbye to Olivia. This had been the perfect week with my sister, and I honestly didn’t know when we’d ever get this much undivided time with her again.
“Don’t you dare cry,” Olivia told me as she pulled away from our hug. “If you cry, I’ll cry, and I’m really not in the mood for that.”
“I’m not going to cry.”
“Liar.”
I could tell Jax was also trying not to cry as she shared her final hug with Olivia.
As Jax and I stood in the doorway together watching Olivia walk to her car, she put her arm around me. “Thank you for doing that. This week was amazing. I honestly think it was one of the best weeks of my life and by far the best birthday I’ve ever had.”
I leaned into her. “It was one of the best weeks of my life as well.”
***
A few hours later, my mom called to do our weekly book club. I was extra nervous about this one since she had read the first draft of my book.
“So,” I said without even a hello. “What did you think?”
My mom laughed. “Hello to you too.”
“Sorry.” I bounced from foot to foot. “I’m nervous to hear whether it was actually any good.”
“Are you serious?” My mom sounded legitimately confused. “How could you even question that? You have to know that the story was absolutely perfect. It’s by far your best book yet.”
“Wow. Really?”
“Honey, would I lie to you?”
“About whether something I did was good? Absolutely. Remember when I played soccer for a year in middle school? You used to always tell me how much potential I had.”
“That wasn’t a complete lie. It’s not like I told you that you were currently doing well. I chose my words wisely.”
Of course she did.
“You also insisted I was getting better and better.”
“Sweetie…” My mom’s tone was the one she used when she had something to say that she didn’t think I would like.
“I’m not sure how to put this nicely, so I’m just going to say it.
It was very easy for you to get better given where you started.
By the end of the season, you were able to make it from one end of the field to the other without tripping over your own feet. That was a huge improvement.”
That was reassuring… kind of. “That’s not what you’re doing with my writing, is it? You said this is by far my best one yet. Is that because the other two were so awful?”
“Take a deep breath, sweetie. Your first book has 4.8 stars and your second has 4.9. Those reviews are coming from people who aren’t your mom. What do you think?”
I nodded even though she couldn’t see me. She was right. My first two books had amazing reviews. I was just overthinking things, which made sense. It was what I did best, after all.
I took a deep breath and blew it out. “Okay, so you really liked it. What made this one so special?”
My mom hummed as she thought of her answer.
“There are so many things, but I’d say the biggest one is the character development.
When the story started, I thought there was no way in hell I would ever learn to like Missy.
By the end, she was my favorite character of all time.
Not just from your books. She’s my favorite character from any book I’ve ever read.
There were so many layers to her, and I loved how you peeled them back one by one as the book progressed. ”
“Wow. That’s…” I was so blown away by my mom’s review that I was speechless. “That’s huge. Thank you.”
“No, Carter. Thank you. Thank you for taking a chance on writing. Thank you for keeping it up. And thank you for providing me with a character who I will continue to think about for a very long time.”
My mom and I continued to talk about everything she loved about the book, and I told her which scenes gave me the most trouble, which were the most fun to write, and which one actually made me cry.
I was shocked when I looked at the clock and realized we had been on the phone for over two and a half hours. “Wow. This discussion lasted much longer than I expected it to. I better go check on Jax and see what she wants to do for lunch.”
“Time flies when you’re having fun.” My mom’s laugh was even more joyful than it usually was, which was saying a lot.
“Thank you so much for doing this with me, sweetie. I look forward to our calls every week. Please don’t share this with anyone else in the family, but you really are my best friend. ”
Her words had me choking back tears. With how emotional I’d been all day, you’d think I actually was pregnant, but my period that had just started yesterday said otherwise. Which, thinking about it, that was probably what was making me so emotional. “You’re my best friend too, Mom.”
I had grown up adoring my mom and seeing her as my hero. While that hadn’t changed, somewhere along the line, she had also become my best friend. I knew I could share anything with her, and she understood me better than anyone else—even Jax and Olivia.
“I need to go before you make me cry.” My mom sniffled on the other end of the phone. “Too late. Oh well. Have a great day, honey. I love you.”
“I love you too, Mom.”
I smiled as I hung up the phone. I was definitely feeling much better today than I had been a week ago. This last week had me actually believing things were going to work out. I just hoped it worked out sooner rather than later.