Chapter 23
SUMMER DAYS
MADISON
WINE NOT
Halle: Do I need to put out a missing persons report for you and my brother Madi?
Me: You literally saw me yesterday.
Halle: Yeah, for all of two minutes
Sarah: I haven’t seen you in forever
Sarah: Since Halle’s birthday, I think.
Tessa: That was weeks ago. You and Hunter need to come up for some air girl
Me: Oh my god
Sarah: She’s not wrong. I can count on one hand how many nights he’s slept here in the last few weeks.
Me: He’s been working a lot. Summer’s here, the bar’s busy.
Tessa: Sarah that’s probably a good thing. You wouldn’t want their nightly activities keeping you awake.
Me: TESS!!!
Me: In my defence, I’ve been busy too. I’m doing more of the admin side of things for Whiskey, night shifts, organizing Charlie’s going home party, volunteering at the hospital… multitasking queen.
Halle: I was just kidding Madi. I’m really happy you guys are working things out.
Tessa: We all are
Sarah: I’m glad I don’t have to kick his ass for you.
Me: Okay but I do miss you guys. Life needs to slow down.
Tessa: That’s what today’s for! Sun, water, good food and good people.
Halle: We’re still meeting here and walking down together?
Sarah: Remi is so excited to go swimming. See you girls soon.
“Sweetheart, what are you doing here? Don’t you guys have your traditional first-week-of-summer barbecue party today down at Falls Creek?”
I grin at Mom, spotting Nurse Sally behind her.
“Hey, Mom. Hi, Sally.” I hug mom, then step back.
“We do, but it doesn’t start for a few hours, and it’s the boys’ year to organize it.
I’m heading over to Hunter’s to meet the girls soon before we all walk down.
Thought I’d stop in here first, see Charlie, and sort out some final touches for her party next week. ”
“Well, while you’re here, come get a coffee with me. I have twenty minutes left on my break, and I miss you.”
She links her arm through mine and steers me away from the children’s ward, guiding me toward the cafeteria like we’ve done so many times in the past. My heart squeezes at her words.
I miss her too. I’ve been so wrapped up in…
everything, so tangled in life and work and Hunter, that I’ve stopped checking in the way I should.
“I’m sorry I haven’t been around for breakfast or dinner.”
“Oh, stop.” She waves me off. “For months, I practically bribed you with blueberry muffins and pancakes to make sure you were still alive.”
“Mom,” I groan.
“I’m serious, you had me worried. You weren’t living, sweetheart. You were existing. Moving from my couch to work and back again like a very sad, very dramatic sloth.”
My mouth drops open. “I was not a sloth.”
She barks out a laugh. “Yes, you were.”
“Mom!”
“Don’t ‘Mom’ me,” she teases, squeezing my arm. “There’s no need to apologize. You’re finally feeling things again. Finally living. You think I’m going to be mad about that?”
She lifts a brow, waiting.
“No.” I sigh.
We take a seat at a small table by the window as the cafeteria buzzes around us.
Nurses grabbing takeaway coffees between rounds, doctors taking a moment to themselves, visitors with dark, worried circles around their eyes.
A few patients wander slowly through, grateful for a change of scenery after hours in bed.
“I’ll never be mad at you for living your life.” She leans back, patting down her pink scrubs. “Now, go order this old girl a coffee and then update me on everything that’s been happening.”
A small chuckle slips out of me as I go to order our coffees.
I slide Mom’s cup across to her when I return, laughing under my breath at how she’s already in full interrogation mode.
Her elbows are planted on the table, eyes narrowed, lips pursed, waiting.
Before I even think about taking a sip of my own coffee, the words pour out—Halle’s birthday, the night everything shifted, how I can’t seem to stop falling into bed every night with Hunter, the letters he still won’t face.
She blinks at me, processing.
“Well,” she finally says, lifting her cup, taking a sip, “you have landed yourself in a bit of a pickle, haven’t you?”
“Mom, what do I do?” I twist the lid on my coffee cup.
“It’s been weeks, and he still hasn’t given Halle the letters.
Why is he tiptoeing around it? He says he wants to work things out with me, and I feel like we’re so close to putting everything behind us, but this?
” I exhale hard. “It’s holding him back.
It’s a weight he keeps carrying, and until he deals with it…
I don’t know how we move forward. It feels like we’re repeating everything we did from before he left, except this time, it’s not a secret. ”
“And you’re too kind to push him, because you know he’s hurting, and you don’t want to overstep. You don’t want to break his trust,” she says gently.
I nod, staring down at the table, picking at the lid on my cup.
“But it sounds like he needs a swift kick up the butt,” she adds, giving me a knowing look. “Because I know you’re not going to wait as long this time. You won’t put yourself through that again, and you’re not going to hide those letters from Halle. Are you?”
“No.” My answer comes out stronger than I expected. “I don’t want to keep things from her anymore, and a small part of me…” My throat tightens. “A small part of me wants to be selfish. I want him to choose us for once. To put our relationship first. Does that make me a bad person?”
“No, it doesn’t, my sweet girl. It makes you human.” She reaches across the table and squeezes my hand.
I huff out a laugh. “Can’t you do the meddling thing you love to do? I know he comes around to the house and helps you when you ask. Can’t you kick him up the butt next time?”
She crosses her arms, tilting her chin down. “How about you talk to him first? And preferably with your clothes on. Maybe even with a table between the two of you so there’s absolutely zero distractions.”
“Mom!” I groan, heat rushing to my cheeks.
“What?” she says, finishing the last sip of her coffee.
“Your physical relationship has never been the issue here. And while I’m glad you spare me the details, I will say this: your miscommunication and fear are keeping you two from going all in.
You’ve been patient. Maybe it’s time you got a little mad. ”
I slump back in my chair. “Why do you always have to be right?”
“Because I’m your mother, and I’m always right.” She pushes her chair back. “Come on, let’s go see Charlie, and then you can get going.”
I glance at Mom’s pink scrubs as we weave our way back through the cafeteria.
“By the way, how’s your patient? The one who loves pink?”
Mom’s eyes soften. “She gets to go home tomorrow. She made me promise to wear the pink once a week when she’s gone, because if they made her happy, they might make someone else happy too.”
“She sounds pretty smart,” I say, a smile tugging at my lips.
We turn the corner into the children’s ward. The familiar scent of disinfectant and bubble gum soap wraps around us. I wave to Sally behind the nurses’ station and reach for the volunteers’ sign-in sheet.
“Hey, sweetie,” Mom says behind me.
“Yeah, Mom?” I scribble my name, glancing up.
She rests her hand over mine, her thumb stroking back and forth in that comforting way. “Talk to Hunter today. Remind him you won’t come second. That you’re not waiting like before. I love that boy, but you are my priority, and you deserve the whole world. It’s time he shows you that.”
My chest tightens, heart thudding against my ribs.
“And if he doesn’t listen, then you’ll meddle?” I smirk at her, teasing.
She chuckles, nudging me lightly in the shoulder. “Tell Charlie I’ll be in to see her soon.”
I shake my head, grinning at her as she walks off. “Come on, you love it.”
“Girls! Remi!” Connor’s voice booms from the lookout above the water.
Remi’s eyes shoot up. “Momma, wot Con doing? Con so high!” His little hands fly into the air in pure excitement.
“Watch this!” he shouts, stepping to the edge of the rocky ledge, toes curling as he looks down.
Sarah stops dead, her fingers clamping around my arm, gasping. We both watch as Connor leaps with a loud whoop that echoes off the rocks as he free-falls toward the water.
My heart drops straight into my feet, the same way it does every time the boys hurl themselves off that lookout over the small waterfall.
Adrenaline spikes through my veins, buzzing under my skin.
The sun filters through the trees above us, hot and heavy.
The air tastes like summer—fresh water and the earthy tang of wet stone.
“Holy shit, is he okay?” she blurts, taking a step forward.
Tessa coughs out a laugh, and Halle smiles at Sarah before scooping Remi onto her hip and jogging off toward the park benches where Hunter has everything set up.
Her eyes are squeezed shut, her whole body locked tight.
I giggle, bumping her shoulder with mine and point just as Connor breaks through the surface, shaking his long hair back with a triumphant smile.
The locals still at the top of the lookout lean over, cheering and hollering down at him.
Her shoulders relax as she lets go of the breath she was holding.
“They do this all the time,” I reassure her.
“The water out there under the falls is crazy deep, perfect to jump and swim into.” I gesture toward the shallow water in front of us, where the sunlight turns the creek crystal clear as it runs over the pebbles and smooth stones.
“Here’s better for Remi to splash around.
I wouldn’t take him out that way until he’s older.
Plus, the locals will be climbing up and down all day to jump. ”
I loop my arm through hers and drag her away.
“Do you ever jump?” she asks, glancing back to the waterfall.
“Sometimes. I’m not racing up there like these buffoons, but if I’m feeling spontaneous, I’ll go.”
“Ladies,” Hunter calls as we approach the table.