Diana

Well, this was convenient. I had planned to visit my mother after work and Chloe had let me go thirty minutes early. Usually, it was the opposite. I ended up staying late if I wanted to leave early.

I toyed with the idea of calling my mom in my car on the way to Blue Pines, but I decided not to bother, that she’d be pleasantly surprised to see me a little earlier than expected, and it wasn’t like there was anywhere else she could be. The kind of good news that I had to share today couldn’t wait.

Besides, what else would I do for thirty minutes? I had found out fairly quickly after my mother had been admitted to the nursing home as a temporary occupant that I hated living alone. Cheerful humming when my mother watered the plants, the clanging of pots and pans as she cooked, running water as she showered - I missed it all. The house was still home, but it felt too… quiet. Abandoned. Every little creak bothered me. If I didn’t make the noise… what did?  I needed people around.

Maybe that was why I had understood Noah so well. Noah craved attention and affection, as well as closeness to people - maybe particularly to a woman because he lived with his father - but he didn’t know how to act around new people yet.

You and me both, Noah. Except I don’t know how to act around your father. Yes, there were two reasons I was visiting my mother today. One, I wanted to give her good news about the mortgage. Two, I wanted her advice.

Even back in high school, my mother and I had always had an open discourse about men. Men she liked, men I liked - we gossiped about them like middle schoolers, not adult women. And she was always supportive… although, she did serve as the voice of reason, and when I didn’t listen, I usually regretted it.

Take my first real high school boyfriend, for example. I was shy in high school - I was already a little curvy and I happened to hang out with friends who were not. Looking back, they may never have noticed or thought about it - but I did. So, when this super cute boy asked me out, I couldn’t say no.

Turns out he only wanted to date me until he could get between my legs, and when he left me, it reaffirmed what my father had taught me - men couldn’t be trusted.

My mother had warned me about that boy after the very first time she had met him. If only I’d listened, I wouldn’t have had to spend a year rebuilding my self-esteem for the second time. The first being after my father repeatedly told me I would never find a man. I was too heavy. No one would want someone like me.

Maybe it was good he left us. The thought left a bitter imprint in my mind. I had thought I was over my father and the pain he had caused me and my mom, but apparently not.

Cameron wasn’t like my father… was he? Daddy Dearest had hated kids. I had been an accident he didn’t want at all, but my mother put her foot down and insisted they were having me and everything would be fine. Noah was the light of Cameron’s life. He would do anything for his son, which is exactly how a father should be. Just because my own had somehow missed out on that memo didn’t mean I didn’t know how a father should act. After all, my mother and I had a wonderful, loving relationship and thrived off each other’s company and support.

I knew how to love and have a loving relationship. I just wasn’t sure I could put my trust in a man right now, not when so much was going on already… especially when that man had an ex-wife, the mother of his son.

Which shouldn’t have mattered to me because this was Cameron Hart. Billionaires didn’t date struggling secretaries who didn’t have enough time to care about their diets. Apparently, they kissed them, though.

And because of those two quick little kisses, I was now jealous of a woman I’d never met who lived in San Francisco and probably meant nothing at all to Cameron anymore.

“Two more things,” I muttered to myself. Why could I never say anything cute or heartfelt after moments like that? God, I was so awkward.

“You have arrived.”

“I know, thanks.” My mother had a habit of responding to the GPS and I’d picked it up from her.

Blue Pines was near the outskirts of Chicago, and despite the varying difficulties and health problems the people inside had to deal with, the place managed to maintain a sort of cheerfulness about it. The outside had beautiful spiral brick columns that reminded me of one of those optical illusion photos, the parking garage was clean and airy, and the halls and rooms inside burst with artsy decor. In fact, the place had its own art gallery. Visitors didn’t always come here just because they had family or friends in the place, and the proceeds from the gallery’s five dollar entry fee went straight to the betterment of the building.

Evenly-spaced, enclosed porches poked out of all sides of the three-story building, and as usual, during the short walk from the parking garage to the doors of the place, I glanced up to see if my mom was out on the one attached to her room. My mom loved snow, and she liked to sit with a cup of something hot and watch it fall.

She was indeed sitting on the balcony of her second-floor room - and she wasn’t alone. A man with graying hair sat in a wheelchair next to my mother’s chair. The stiff breeze snatched their words away long before they reached me, but I could tell they were both laughing about something. Good! Mom was a very friendly, social person, and it was fantastic that she had found a friend to pass the time with here.

Ooooh! The man leaned across the distance quickly and gave my mother a kiss on the lips. I stepped over a wet patch on the sidewalk and jogged to the door, gleeful but not wanting to be caught staring. Ah… Secret kisses for them, too.

I took the elevator up, walked the familiar path to the door labeled “Eleanor Hayes”, and knocked loudly.

“It’s unlocked! Come in!”

“Hey, Mom,” I called as I opened the door and shut it behind me.

“Diana, come out on the balcony! There’s someone I want you to meet.”

Oh, I know, Mom. I know. But I decided to play along for now. Mom could tell me what she wanted to tell me when she wanted to say it. “Hello,” I said cheerfully, suppressing a knowing smile.

“You must be Diana. I’m Eli,” the man said, holding out a hand.

“Nice to meet you, Eli. My mom likes to make friends everywhere she goes.” My mom grinned at the truth in that.

“She does for sure.” The two shared a smile. “I’d better get going, though. I have an appointment to get to. See you later, Eleanor?”

I moved quickly to open the door so Eli could wheel out. “He seems nice,” I told my mom as I sat down across the table from her.

“He’s a wonderful person. A little stubborn, though. They wanted to give him an electric wheelchair, but he wouldn’t have it. Said that if he didn’t get some exercise, even if it was just rolling a chair with his arms, he’d go crazy.”

“Hm. Who does that sound like to you?” I asked playfully.

“No idea.” My mom’s brown eyes sparkled as she brushed her straight shoulder-length hair out of her face. She would be sixty-three in April, but she looked younger, probably a side-effect of being cheerful all the time.

“How are you feeling?” I asked, looking her up and down. The walker she had been using last time I visited was still beside her chair, but now a cane leaned against the walker.

“Well, I’m still on medication, but I feel so much less tired than I did. And my therapist told me that if I feel up to it, I can use the cane instead of the walker-”

“-So of course, you’ve been only doing that,” I finished for her, thrilled for her progress.

“Yeah. The walker hasn’t moved from that spot in days.”

“So therapy has been going well?”

“Mostly, very well. They think I’ll be released within a few weeks - about what we were told after the surgery.” My mother’s smile dropped just a little. More therapy meant more time in the nursing home, which meant more money… and that was in short supply already.

This was the only way, though. We’d talked at length before the surgery. We only had one car between us, and I had work. I couldn’t be home to help my mother recover from surgery and take her to therapy appointments, and Blue Pines was partially covered by insurance, so... This was what we had settled on.

“I made an extra payment on the mortgage this month,” I blurted out quickly, determined to fix that lopsided smile.

I succeeded. “Diana, that’s wonderful! How did you do that?”

“I found extra work as an overnight nanny. Two-hundred-and-fifty dollars a night,” I said proudly.

“Wow, Honey, that’s great! But that’s a lot of money. Did you nanny for anyone I know?”

“Uh-” The memory of gentle lips and needy kisses strangled my words, and I had to take a deep breath to cool my warming face. “Sort of? He’s the CEO of Pinnacle Real Estate. He has a kid and he had to go - he had to go on a business trip.”

“There’s nothing wrong with that, Diana.” My mom searched my face. “Did something happen?”

Did I want to talk about our stolen kisses yet? Could I even talk about something when I didn’t really know how to feel about it? My mom hadn’t jumped at the chance to tell me about Eli and their quick kiss. Maybe I should wait a while and see what happens with Cameron before I say anything that could worry my mother.

“No, I was just a little worried because he’s my boss.” My heart sank with guilt at the lie. “I think it’s fine now, though. And he didn’t approach me with the offer, his personal assistant did.”

“Then you definitely have nothing to worry about. That sounds perfectly professional and I’m so glad you didn’t have to spend too much time job searching!”

“Me too. I think Cameron will need me once more, which gives me time to figure something else out to do for work after. We still need to make three payments before we catch up.”

“I can’t believe I let us get four months behind. I was so busy calculating costs and figuring things out before the surgery,” my mom sighed. “I’ll make it up to you when I get out of prison.”

I rolled my eyes. “A nursing home is not a prison, Mom. Less than half of the people here are permanent residents.”

“That’s what they want you to believe.” My mom winked and looked around the enclosed balcony significantly.

I played along, widening my eyes and glancing around the balcony like I expected to see cameras or dark, humanoid shadows. “Should we give them something to watch?”

“Sure. The tea’s in the cabinet above the microwave.”

Our laughter echoed through the room.