Chapter Five
“I’ve been awful to you, Birdie,” my mom says, tossing a pillow at me as I lie on the couch, scrolling through my phone. “Tonight, we’re going out for pizza.”
“Mom.” I roll my eyes. “I’m tired. I’ve already taken my bra off. Let me get lost on social media in peace.”
My mom grabs my feet and starts pulling me off the couch. I drop my phone and laugh as I fall off.
“I’m not taking no for an answer. I’ve been working eighty-hour weeks since begging you to come here. We’re getting dressed, and we’re having pizza.”
“I must really love you to put a bra back on,” I yell as I walk up the stairs.
“Don’t put one on for me,” my mom says, laughing. “I don’t care what you wear.”
“Gross,” I say. I sit and stretch my arms up. “Give me fifteen minutes to get dressed and make myself presentable.”
I throw on cutoff shorts and a tank top and look at myself in the mirror.
Thirty minutes later, my mom and I walk through the doors of the pool hall. I’ve heard about this place but haven’t been here. Now that I think of it, I haven’t been anywhere.
“There.” My mom points. “Let’s grab that table in the corner.”
My mom didn’t actually beg me to come to Wheaton. It was the other way around. I started getting so lonely on the road. She and I would have our daily calls and texts, but it started to get harder to be away from her. I also got so tired of living out of a suitcase. When my mom took over the nursing home administrator position in Wheaton and then let me know a few months later that one of their RNs retired, I jumped at the opportunity to come here.
“I think I like it here.” My mom studies the menu. “Sure, the house needs some work, but it’s got character.”
“You mean the haunted house we live in?”
My mom swats my arm. “You know I don’t believe in that stuff.”
We order a drink and a pub pizza.
“Are you liking it here, Birdie?”
“The town is cute,” I say. “And I’m in love with the residents. Who knows? I’m ready to give this place a try.”
The ranch where I grew up is only an hour and a half away from here. But besides my sperm donor, I have no real connections there. My mom is my family, and although I didn’t picture myself living at home at twenty-five, I don’t hate the simplicity of life I have at the moment.
And my mom and I have always been best friends more than anything.
“Birdie.” I turn when I hear my name. Carrie stands there, with Dax at her side. She pulls me into a hug. “I thought that was you.”
“Hey, Carrie.” I smile. “This is my mom, June. Mom, this is Carrie.”
“Carrie,” my mom says warmly. “It’s so good to meet you.”
“Dax,” he says, stretching his hand out to shake my mom’s. “I’ve seen you at the nursing home once or twice. I visit Sunny and Sis pretty regularly.”
“Of course,” my mom says. “They’re lucky to have so many family and friends around that stop in to see them. Lately, I’ve been stuck in my office and barely get out.”
“Liam is grabbing us drinks from the bar.” Carrie points. “Do you mind if we join you?”
“Please,” my mom says. She gets to her feet and pulls three chairs to our table.
Liam glances at me as he sets down drinks. He turns his attention to my mom.
“Hi, Mrs. . .”
“Please, call me June,” my mom says.
Liam clears his throat. “It’s nice to meet you, June. I’m Liam Bergland. Sunny and Sis are my grandparents.”
“Liam.” My mom smiles warmly at him. “Birdie and I adore them.”
“All Grandpa Sunny does is talk about Birdie, so I know the feeling is mutual.”
He pulls up a chair across from me. I study him as he takes a long sip of his drink. Objectively speaking, Liam is a handsome guy. He’s tall and has a muscular build. His blond hair is swept to the side, and his dark blue eyes hold a lot in them.
“Yes,” Liam says, and I realize I’m staring. “Can I help you?”
My face heats, and I force my gaze down toward the table. Carrie, Dax, and my mom are laughing next to us, which leaves me at the end of the table, Liam studying me in silence.
“Your mom looks our age,” Liam says.
I shrug. “She was eighteen when she had me.”
Liam narrows his eyes. “How old is she now?”
“Forty-three,” I say.
“Wow.” Liam leans back in his chair. “You have a mom that’s only ten years older than me.”
This is always someone’s reaction when they meet my mom. She’s never been like the others. She’d show up for school conferences fashionable and cute. But she worked hard to make sure we had a mother-daughter relationship. It wasn’t until I became an adult myself that she allowed us to shift into friendship too.
“Birdie’s an odd name.” I look up, and Liam is watching me, running his finger around the rim of his glass.
“Sorry,” I say. “Was that a question or just an observation?”
Liam picks up his drink and then sets it down. “Where’d the name come from?”
“It’s a nickname,” I say. “My grandma gave it to me when I was a baby, and it stuck.”
“What’s your real name?”
I glance to the side where the three of them are still engaged in a conversation. I lean forward on my elbows.
“I only share that with my friends,” I say.
Liam rolls his eyes. He leans forward too, our faces only inches apart.
“So, if your mom had you when she was eighteen, that makes you twenty-five.” Liam’s gaze shifts toward her, and then back at me.
“Good math skills,” I say. “You should find a job in finance.”
His jaw ticks. “That is what I do.”
“Figures.” I press my lips together.
I find Liam impossible to read. I don’t expect him to open up to me, but the wall he has up both puzzles and intrigues me. It’s familiar too. I can be very closed off as well.
“I’m going to grab another round of drinks. Can I get you anything?” Liam says, shooting up from the table.
“I’d love another gin and tonic,” my mom says, elbowing me in my side.
“Nothing for me, thanks,” I say.
“I’m good too,” Carrie says.
Dax holds up an almost empty beer. “I’ll have another one of these.”
Liam nods and walks to the bar.
“I was just telling Carrie and Dax about the ranch you grew up on in South Dakota,” my mom says. “It was beautiful but I’m an only child and would never be a rancher, so after my parents passed, it made the most sense to sell it.”
“Do you still have family there?” Carrie asks, directing her question toward me.
“My sperm donor still lives there,” I say. “At least I think he does.”
Liam approaches just as the words are out of my mouth, and he puts the drinks down and suppresses his laugh with a cough.
“I haven’t seen him in years,” I add.
“Liam told me you bought the Hurst haunted house. Any action?”
My mom laughs. “Not yet, but the house is too big for just me and Birdie, so if some spirits want to hang out, I welcome it.”
Carrie sighs but then turns to Dax. “We should probably go pick up Kylie and the boys. It’s getting late.”
Dax nods. “Yeah, I suppose we should. It was really great to meet you, June. And to see you again, Birdie.”
“Yes,” my mom says. “Be sure to stop by and say hi the next time you’re at the nursing home.”
“We will,” Carrie says, smiling.
“Thanks for the drink, Liam,” my mom says.
He nods as he grips the edge of the table. “Anytime.”
Liam glances at me, nods, and then turns his back to us. Carrie waves as they walk away.
“We should probably get going too,” my mom says. “I plan to be at the nursing home first thing in the morning.”
“I’m ready whenever you are.”
We drive the short distance from the pool hall to our house in silence. When we arrive home, my mom turns to me before getting out of the car.
“Liam sure pays you a lot of attention,” she says.
I shrug. “I don’t see why. He’s not very friendly.”
“I don’t know,” she says. “He seems to have taken to you. And he’s not bad on the eyes.”
“No, Mom,” I say. “You are still not allowed to be my matchmaker.”
She laughs. “I know, but I’m so good at it.”
We head up the winding stairs together. My mom goes right to her room, and I go left to mine.
“Thanks for indulging me tonight, Birdie. I love you, honey.”
“See you in the morning,” I say.