Chapter 4
Kelsi
Kelsi knocked on the robin’s-egg blue door before turning the handle she knew would be unlocked.
“Hey, Mom!” she called out loudly. She shed her shoes at the door and heard the pounding of heavy paws across the floor before two golden retrievers hurtled down the hallway toward her from the back of the house.
“Savannah! Bailey!” She giggled as they launched themselves at her, shoving each other out of the way in their efforts to lick her face.
“Okay, girls, sit!” She held her hand up, palm out.
The girls both sat eagerly, back ends wagging back and forth on the floor in time with their tails.
Kelsi reached into the glass jar of dog treats her mom kept in an alcove next to the door and handed two to the dogs.
She followed them as they trotted down the hallway toward the kitchen at the back of the home.
Walking through the open doorway into the kitchen, the delicious aroma of her mom’s signature lasagna hit her, and her mouth immediately watered.
As amazing as it smelled, Kelsi was automatically on high alert. Bad News Lasagna. When Dylan’s dad died, when her childhood dog was diagnosed with cancer, when her mom told Kelsi she had to get a cavity filled, there was always lasagna. Any unexpected lasagna meant bad news.
“Mom, what’s the special occasion?”
She put her bag in one of the island’s seats and lowered herself into the one next to it, propping her chin on her hand as her mom flitted around the kitchen, throwing a salad together.
Her mom looked up at Kelsi and smiled widely. “You are, of course! Tomorrow is a big day for you! First day at a new job, back home for good—we have a lot to celebrate!”
Kelsi tilted her head sideways as she studied her. “Yes, Mom, those are things to be excited over, but you know you save lasagna for extremely bad days. Starting a new job and coming home shouldn’t be bad. So, what is it?”
Her mom laughed at her. “Not all bad, Kelsi. Sometimes it’s good, important-news lasagna.” She didn’t lose her ridiculous grin as she hummed to herself. The oven timer went off with a shrill ding, and she moved to pull the garlic bread and lasagna from the oven.
“Mom?” Kelsi questioned again, not willing to let it go.
“Oh hush, Kelsi. I’m just excited to have you back home with me again.” She grabbed a couple of plates and bowls from the cabinets and passed them to Kelsi. “Now, what are you going to wear tomorrow to work? You need to look your best for your first day.”
Kelsi was still suspicious, but she answered, “I was thinking of my lucky suit.”
It was a brilliant emerald green, the literal color of luck, and it offset her auburn hair beautifully. She had worn it for every big trial so far and hadn’t lost a single one, so it had earned its moniker. Kelsi laid the dishes on the kitchen island, where they normally sat to eat.
“Ooo, yes, absolutely. You look beautiful in that one!” her mom gushed.
Kelsi put a hand on her chest with a gasp in mock outrage. “Mother,” she exclaimed, “are you telling me that I don’t look beautiful in my other suits?”
Her mom rolled her eyes and swatted at her with a kitchen rag, both of them laughing as Kelsi nimbly dodged it.
“You know that’s not what I meant. I think that suit is especially flattering and shows off your beautiful hair.”
“It makes me look like a spokesperson for Ireland,” she deadpanned. “Or the leprechauns.”
“Nothing wrong with that, sweetheart. You have to embrace your roots.” Her mom cut the lasagna into healthy portions, and the two of them sat down, losing themselves to the delicious meal.
Seriously, nothing was better than pasta and tomato sauce smothered in cheese.
Kelsi waited patiently until they were cleaning up, moving the uneaten lasagna into smaller containers for the fridge, and getting started on dishes. “So, Mom, what bad news is there that you felt deserved the lasagna treatment?”
Her mom’s hands stilled momentarily where she was busy drying the casserole dish. “Oh no, I have nothing to tell you, honey. No news at all. Nope, nothing.”
“Mom, please tell me that you’re not sick, or dying?
” Kelsi felt an edge of panic creep in. What would she do if her mom was sick?
She would have to see if there were treatment options available.
She knew some doctors; maybe she could call them for second opinions and advice, if needed.
Kelsi couldn’t lose another person she loved.
“Oh no, no, no. Nobody is sick or dying.”
Her mom’s voice cut through Kelsi’s panicked overthinking, and she relaxed with a huge sigh of relief.
Her mom was a horrendous liar, always had been.
Kelsi had been able to read her like a book from day one.
Watching her mom’s tense shoulders, she knew that at least she was being truthful about there not being anything terminal to worry about.
As for anything else, Kelsi decided not to push it.
Her life had been enough of a shitstorm recently, what was another thing lobbied at her?
Kelsi and her mom had grown close in the years since her dad left, and she couldn’t imagine anything happening to her.
For so long, it had been them against the world.
She never wanted that to change, although she did sometimes wish her mom could find someone to spend the rest of her life with.
While she had Kelsi and Sarah Beth, Dylan’s mom, Kelsi still wished her mom could find love again.
“Now, I’ve packed you some leftovers for lunch at work tomorrow, okay?
” Her mom thrust a Tupperware container with some of the lasagna crammed in.
“I want you to call me as soon as you leave to tell me how your first day went! And, if Banksy is a hard-ass, you let me know and I’ll set her straight. ”
Kelsi smiled, picturing her petite mom going hand to hand with her friend, who, honestly, was always a little bit of a hard-ass. “Will do, Mom. Thank you again for dinner. You know the lasagna is my favorite. No matter the news.”
Her mom gave her a hug, arms tight around her. “I know,” she said, holding Kelsi tighter to her for longer than normal. “I love you.”
A little coil of worry snaked its way around her heart, but she brushed it aside, knowing that to force her to talk would not get her anywhere. Her mom may be a terrible liar, but she was even more stubborn than Kelsi. “Love you too, Mom.”
Her mom finally released her, giving Kelsi room to slip on her shoes at the door. “Now, go kick ass tomorrow!” she exclaimed with a loud whoop.
Kelsi chuckled, amused at how little her mom understood about a typical day in the life of an attorney.
Definitely not as high stakes or action-packed as her mom’s television dramas told her.
Kelsi and Banksy had both tried for years to bring her back to reality, but she insisted Suits and Law and Order were the real deal.
Climbing into her car and heading home, Kelsi glanced at the lasagna sitting innocently in the Tupperware on the passenger’s side, wondering why her mom thought she would need it tomorrow.