Chapter 17
Adam
I just got Little Women on my Kindle.
Iwas about to drift off to sleep later that night when my phone buzzed. It was Adam. I immediately sat straight up and swiped to the message.
He had sent me a screenshot of his Kindle with a picture of his recent purchase of Little Women. I couldn’t stop the spreading smile across my face.
Me
I’m so proud.
Iwaited for his reply. Stevie circled a spot on the bed.
Adam
Is this a Christmas book?
Me
Do you see how long that book is? You think it only spans CHRISTMAS?
It’s a life book
Adam
are you a Meg or a Jo? I know you’re not a Beth.
Me
maybe I’m a Marmee.
The next day, I went furniture shopping with Mom and Olivia. I tried to prepare beforehand mentally and emotionally for the onslaught of Adam Talk. As I slid into my mom’s backseat, I was ready for my mom’s opinion on Adam. Anxious for it, even.
But instead, she said, “I’m a little worried about Gracie, guys.”
“What’s going on?” I asked at the same time Olivia said, “What happened?”’
“Nothing’s happened. Yet. But we had some tense conversations about her schedule before she left. I feel like she’s just barreling toward a burnout.”
“You told her this?” Olivia eyes creased in concern from the front seat.
“I did. I told her she was reminding me of our first couple of years living in Sweet River. I think there was a weight of taking care of you girls on my own and proving myself in my career after time away. I committed to a crazy work schedule, but then I also volunteered for every school or church parent responsibility available so you wouldn’t feel any sort of parental lack. I ended up getting horribly sick our second Christmas, so bad that Grandma had to take me to the hospital. She had a long talk with me and made me promise to make a change for the New Year. And I did, with her help.”
“Oh, Mama.” Olivia squeezed her hand across the middle console.
“I’m fine now. I learned that what I can give is enough. I don’t need to make up for anyone else’s lack, or ignore my well-being and needs, to prove myself. What I can give, and have enough left over for myself, is enough.” Mom sighed. “It’s Gracie I’m worried about. She barely even has time to check in since she left. I don’t even think we’ve spoken on the phone once.”
“I talked to her about it, too,” I said. After she left, I’d tried to reach out a couple of times to barely any replies.
“Me, too.” Olivia let out a humorless laugh.
“She basically just told me she was trapped in her commitments,” I said as I adjusted the air conditioning vent.
“She told me to butt out.” Olivia winced. “I was probably a little more pushy than you, though.”
“I think we should do something,” Mom said. “Maybe we drive down there and…”
“And what?” I asked, imagining Mom storming into her boss’ office or calling her professors and demanding they drop her with no effect on her transcript.
“Mom,” Olivia said in her big sister tone. “I think she’s going to have to learn this one on her own. You learned. Didn’t you?”
“I had to end up in the hospital, though.” Mom took one hand off the steering wheel and ran it anxiously through her auburn hair.
“Gracie is smart. I think we can trust her to figure it out before anything dire happens,” Olivia said.
I watched the city flit past us through the car window, less sure than Olivia. I knew my little sister. She would see things through to the end…even if the end was a big, messy disaster.
We wandered through the furniture store. Olivia had been using a friend’s worn, old couch since I’d kept the one in the apartment. She was now hunting for a new one.
We were sitting on them and judging their comfort versus cuteness. “I’d give this a nine out of 10 on the cuteness scale, but a solid two on comfort,” I said from my spot on an emerald green sofa.
“This is a 10 out of 10 on both,” Mom shouted from a cream sectional. Olivia and I both hopped off our own sofas and dove onto Mom’s. It was cozy.
“I say 11 out of 10 comfy, but 8 out of 10 cute,” Olivia said, sprawling out between Mom and me.
After some serious couch talk, Olivia popped up to talk with a salesperson about it. Mom and I stayed curled up on the couch.
Mom turned to me with a sparkle in her eyes and said, “Adam sure was sweeter than I expected.” Ah, there it was.
“He is turning out sweeter than I expected, too.” I looked down at my nails.
“You know he actually sent me a Venmo payment to cover all of the pizzas?”
I shook my head. “I didn’t know that.”
“Do you think he was trying to win me over?” Mom bumped her shoulder against mine.
“I think he saw some of his own hardworking, single mom in you,” I said, snuggling into the cushioned couch. “I know he also felt very welcomed by you.”
“He was so kind right from the start. I couldn’t help but want to welcome him in.” After a beat, she checked, “Did it bother you?”
I chewed on my lip, knowing that I, too, had trouble resisting the urge to welcome Adam in with a lot more than pizza. “A few weeks ago, it would’ve. But last night, he told me it meant a lot to him and I could tell it really did. Lately, I’ve started to feel…”
Mom nodded for me to continue.
“I feel like he and I… We can’t help but get along…” I struggled through that sentence.
“Are you two getting friendlier?”
“Sort of,” I said, not mentioning that I’d been compulsively texting him all day long. He was sending me live updates of his weekend reading of Little Women.
“It seemed to me he was pretty concerned with what you think of him.”
“What makes you say that?” I asked, but I already knew. I felt his eyes on me, searching for my reactions. His body was always aimed toward me like an arrow in a bow.
“Luce, he lit up whenever you laughed. Near the end of the night, he was basically floating happily on your approval. Which it seemed he had in spades, by the way, with two of you and your little joking and giggling,” Mom said all of this with a smile. She liked Adam. A lot.
“Okay, first, maybe he was waiting for my reaction because he knows I usually don’t even like him.” I laughed. “And he didn’t have my approval in spades, but we are becoming friends,” I said, trying to reign her thoughts in with my own.
“Friends,” Mom said slowly.
“Friends,” I repeated firmly. “And not long ago he and I were fighting in Olivia’s living room. So, it’s a fragile friendship, at that.”
“As long as you’re enjoying your summer, kiddo.” Mom rustled my hair like I was still a scrappy four year old who made her laugh at my antics.
“You, too, Mom. Are you enjoying that time off?” For the first time ever, Mom had cut back her hours. I felt my shoulders relax a little at the thought that my mom was finally getting some much-needed rest.
“I am, I am.” Mom sighed happily.
“What are you going to do with your time off? Maybe we should take up tanning this summer or something.”
“I have some big baking plans waiting for me. I’m cleaning out the house, catching up on some reading, and helping our Olivia.”
“I have the same helping Olivia plans.”
“Of course, there’s checking on Gracie. And keeping up with you and your drama.”
“What drama?” I leaned back to look at her aghast. “I am the boring sister!”
My mom shook her head. “With my time off, you can worry less about trying to help me so much. Go play with Adam.”
I sighed and let my head fall back against the sectional. Mom didn’t believe what I said about Adam and me being friends for a second.
Feet tapped against the shiny tile floor. Olivia was back to tell us they would be delivering her new sectional.
That evening, I was back at home making a summer pasta salad when my phone started ringing. I grabbed it, expecting to see my mom or Olivia’s name on the caller ID, but it was Adam.
My hands were instantly sweaty. “Hey, Adam,” I said while attempting to regulate my breathing.
“Lucy, hello. How are you doing?”
“I’m fine, just making dinner.” Casual, breezy.
“I know it’s not working hours, but I happened to glance at my emails and saw that late yesterday the choir did come through, so your whole vision for the choir performance is going to happen!” Adam cheered.
I squealed in excitement. “Adam, thank you for telling me! I’m so excited.” This idea had been new and mine.
“Everyone will love it,” he said like a proud teammate. “It’s brilliant.”
There was that fragile friendship coming through. “Thank you.”
He cleared his throat and I suddenly panicked that he was going to hang up. For whatever reason that seemed like a tragedy, so I nearly shouted, “How’s Little Women?” to keep him on the phone.
“Fantastic. It’s sitting here by me on my bed. I’ve been reading it off and on all day.” I imagined him all disheveled and relaxed, lying on his bed, legs crossed at the ankles, messy hair, and a white tee shirt on.
I shook the picture from my mind. “Who’s your favorite character so far?”
“Jo, of course. Amy is underrated, though, in my opinion. The book would be a snooze without her.”
I stirred diced onions, tomatoes, and cucumbers into my macaroni noodles. “Look at you coming in with strong Little Women opinions.”
“Would you expect anything less?” he said in a jokey way that made me crinkle my nose in delight.
“No. This conversation would be a snooze without Adam and his strong opinions.”
“Speaking of which. I did all the talking last night with your family and didn’t get to hear much from you,” he said, sounding disappointed about that fact.
“You were the one under inquiry.” I put my phone on speaker so I could stir the dressing.
“I found it deeply unfair that I had to be put on the spot like that. I feel with our fifty-fifty deal, you should at least answer questions, too. Keep it even,” Adam said.
“Fine, fine. I can answer questions to make it even.” I drizzled the dressing over the pasta. “Put me on the spot. What do you wanna know?”
“Favorite vacation spot?” he asked quickly, mimicking my mom’s rapid-fire questioning style.
“Take me to the water. Be it the ocean, lake, or river.”
“A puddle?”
“I don’t care. Just put me by water with a towel, a book, and some sunshine.” The scent of my pasta filled the kitchen—seasonings, tomatoes, and onions.
“Noted. Any dinner guest, who’s your pick?”
“I would have Grandma Rhodes, too, for one more family dinner.” I poured the pasta into a plastic container so I could set it in the fridge to cool.
“Secret talents?” I could almost see Adam raising his eyebrow in question.
“I am actually a top-notch tap dancer. I took tap all through grade school. I won competitions. I put on shows,” I said proudly.
“Do you have video of this? What am I saying? I’m sure your mom has a whole collection and scrapbooks.” He laughed tenderly.
“You’re right. My mom was my biggest fan.” I cleaned my hands in the sink.
“Okay, what got you into teaching?”
“When I was in dance, I adored when I was at a level where I could teach the girls. Which made me think I might like tutoring in school. I couldn’t get enough of it. It led me to study education, then while I was in college and got to be in the elementary classrooms, kindergarten was my favorite.”
“I’m sure you’re beloved, Miss Lucy.”
“I work for it, though.” I leaned against the counter, folding my arms over my chest.
“Now, the big one…” I could hear him tapping a drumroll on the phone. “What movie do you watch over and over?”
“You’ve Got Mail. No contest. I’ll probably watch it tonight.”
“I find it weirdly comforting to imagine you watching You’ve Got Mail and eating dinner. I can hear you rummaging around in your kitchen. What’re you making?”
“A summer pasta salad.” Stevie rubbed against my ankles.
“I’m having grilled cheese with a can of tomato soup,” he said, which made me start laughing. “What?” he asked, laughing at my outburst.
“Sorry, I’m laughing because we went to Olivia’s house the other night and all she had was grilled cheese ingredients. Come to find out she keeps making grilled cheese for dinner to figure out the best recipe.” I bent down to pet Stevie.
“What cheese did she determine to be the best? Because I have thoughts on this,” Adam said excitedly.
“Oh, I’m sure you do.” I giggled.
And the rest of the evening went like that. We just kept talking. We ate our dinners together over the phone.
I didn’t turn on You’ve Got Mail. I did turn it to FaceTime when he wanted to see Stevie. When we hung up the phone hours later, I’d lost track of time. I just knew it had been dark for hours and I fell asleep with a smile on my face.