Chapter 24 #2
“Oh, hey, Shannon. I have a call coming in from my sister. Can I call you back?” It still felt odd talking about a sister. Odd, but good. Shannon knew all about Andrea, Sawyer, and the situation with Blaine Turner.
“Sure! I have to get going anyway. I have a church meeting at ten. Meet me at the coffee shop later?”
“Will do.”
Mia toggled over to her sister’s call. “Hello.”
“Good morning, Mia. Did I wake you up?” Andrea’s chipper voice came down the line.
Mia grinned. Whenever Andrea called before nine, she asked if she’d woken Mia up.
“Good morning, Andrea. No, you didn’t wake me up. You know I can never sleep past six thirty.”
“That should be illegal,” Andrea groused. “I got up at eight and still feel like I woke with the sun.”
Mia snickered.
She set her phone on the counter and pressed the speaker button so she could work and talk at the same time. Then she started filling the sink with hot water, adding in a few drops of dish soap.
She added some glassware to the water. It clinked while she washed. She liked the sound it made.
“You’re making a lot of noise over there. Am I calling at a bad time?”
“Nah. I’m just washing some dishes that were packed away. I want to put them into the china cabinet. After I dust it out, of course. Do you mind if I work while I talk? There’s a lot to be done here.”
“Of course I don’t mind. I’m a little confused though. When I was over last week, the china cabinet was overflowing. How do you plan on stuffing more in there? What’s going on?” Andrea’s voice held genuine interest.
Mia was slowly getting used to having people actually want to know what was happening in her world. She had been isolated for so long it had been hard to open herself up again, but it had been worth it.
“You’re not wrong. My mom’s moving the things she wants to keep here,” she told her sister. “Everything else, she plans to auction off.”
Once Blaine and the others had gone down, the school board had called a special meeting to publicly reinstate her position.
Her mom had agreed to come and watch Gus during the day after she’d had her surgery and returned home, so instead of using all her FMLA, Mia had returned to work.
Now that Mia’s mom lived with them, Mia hadn’t needed to worry.
Gus thrived with Carol in the house. And Carol Turner had never appeared so happy.
“Oh…how do you feel about that? I mean, you grew up in that house.”
Mia heard the concern in Andrea’s voice.
“Honestly, I’m fine with it,” she said. “It was never a home.”
It still amazed her to be free of Blaine Turner’s influence. Knowing he was in no way related to her felt like freedom. Now that he was out of the picture, her mom was starting to spread her wings. Reconnecting with her daughter and her aunt was part of reclaiming her life.
“Do you need some help?” Andrea asked, always eager to lend a hand.
Mia hesitated. She loved spending time with her sister, but sometimes she enjoyed being alone. She settled for a compromise.
“How about this? I need to meet Shannon about eleven. Why don’t you come over this afternoon, say around four-ish? Then we can do dinner and maybe watch a movie together.”
“That sounds fun! What should I bring?”
They spent a few minutes setting the dinner menu before ending the call.
Would she have found her way back to God if Jackson hadn’t reentered her life?
That was a question she’d never be able to answer.
All she knew was she was so grateful God reunited them.
The peace she’d discovered since surrendering her life to Him made every ounce of pain she’d endured worth it.
She might not appreciate the great gift she’d been given without those trials.
At a quarter to eleven, she headed out the door. Her door, she reminded herself. She loved Gus, but excitement stirred when she thought about the changes she’d made in the house.
Someday, she hoped to have a family. She and Jackson were seeing each other regularly. She hadn’t told him she loved him yet. But soon.
Would they ever be more than they were now?
She wanted that. Once, she’d said she’d never get married. Never tie her life to another’s or let a man close enough to break her heart again.
Well, now she’d done just that. She’d let Jackson in. And more than that, she’d let Dylan, her mom, Andrea, all of them in. It seemed that every week, her social circle was expanding. Soon, she’d meet her brother Sawyer. They’d met on a video call but not in person yet.
The little bell tinkled as she pushed the door open to the coffee shop. Shannon waved from a table near the wall and pointed to the cup sitting by an empty chair. Mia passed by the line to order and strode to the table. She set her purse in a chair next to Shannon’s bag and sank into her seat.
“What did you get me?”
Shannon scooted a small plate with a fluffy muffin next to the cup. “This is their new Autumn Craze muffin. It’s amazing. I’m not sure what’s in it, but trust me, you’ll be obsessed. And that’s the cinnamon and vanilla swirl cold brew I told you about.”
“Sounds delicious.” Picking up her fork and knife, she cut off a small chunk of the muffin. Several crumbs drifted down onto the plate. She sniffed. “I smell cranberry and apple.” She took a bite and immediately closed her eyes. “Oh, that’s good.”
“Told ya.”
Opening her eyes, she grinned across at Shannon. “So, I got a call last night.”
“Jackson?”
She’d kept her best friend abreast of every development.
“No. Dylan.”
Shannon’s eyebrows rose. “Really? Do tell.”
“He and Jackson have this big camping trip planned. Dylan invited me to join them tomorrow morning. He said we could have lunch and spend the day together. And then he wants me to go with him and Jackson to church tomorrow evening. They found a place nearby that has an evening service.”