“Yeah.”
“Small town.”
“You have no idea,” I say with a hint of humor. “I used to spend most of my time in Seaside or Astoria. That’s where Tori’s from.”
“Is there even a school here?” she asks with a huge smile, finding it funny. Not a whole lot of people are permanent residents of this area. It’s mostly vacation rentals, but we’re one of the few that actually call it home.
“No,” I tell her. “The schools are in Seaside, but I went to private school.”
“Me too.”
We chat for a few more minutes, and when she seems more at ease, we head back. Tori and Jenna are sitting in the dining room when we pass through.
“Candace, come join us,” Tori offers, and when Candace hesitates, I tell her it’s fine, letting her know that I’ll be in the other room with my mom. I know Tori is curious about her, and I also trust her enough to know Candace will be fine.
I find my mom in the kitchen, working on dinner. It’s just the two of us, and she stops what she’s doing as we lean against the counter and talk.
“How did this morning go with the kids?” I ask, a little bummed that I wasn’t here.
“Anarchic,” she laughs.
“I bet.”
“They missed you.”
“I have all their presents outside,” I tell her. “We can open them later.”
She takes a sip from her glass of water, and then asks, “Where’s Candace?”
“Dining room with Tor and Jenna.”
She nods her head with a smile, and I know she’s biting her tongue, so I tell her, “Just say it.”
“What?”
“Whatever it is that has you looking at me like that, Mom.”
When she sets her glass down on the counter, she reveals, “She’s different than I was expecting.”
“How so?”
“Just . . . different.” When I narrow my eyes at her, she grins and assures, “It’s a good thing, dear. Relax,” before patting my arm a couple of times and walking away.
“Where are you going?”
“Dining room to visit with the girls.”
I let her have her time with Candace, even though I feel like I want to go in there and check on her. But I don’t. Instead I busy myself with Connor, helping him out with a puzzle on the floor. When I look up, I see my mom and Candace passing through the kitchen. She catches my eye, and I give her a small half grin as they walk through, heading to the study. I like seeing her here, with my mom, in my familiar surroundings, mixed in with my family.
Candace is now in the kitchen, helping Mom cook while I drink a beer and hang out with the guys. I can’t keep my eyes off of her as I watch her laughing with my mom while they get everything ready for dinner, and I know instantly that I want to see this again. Have her here again.
She makes me nervous because she has this power about her that is dragging emotions out of me when no one in the past has been able to. She has no clue what she’s doing to me, and that’s a scary thing when I think about admitting how I’m feeling about her.
After a while, I unload the gifts and let the kids open everything. My mom was right—they’re much crazier than they were last year, but they’re another year older, and I’m sure next year will be even wilder. Candace sits on the couch with Tori while they laugh at me being overtaken by the little ones.
When dinner is done, Candace excuses herself to go upstairs to relieve Katie from mommy duties. Her daughter, Maddie, hasn’t been feeling well all day, and Candace told me that she needed some quiet time, so she’s up in my room with Maddie, and Katie is finally getting to eat dinner.
My aunts are cleaning up, Jenna and the guys are getting all the kids ready for bed, and Tori and I band off into the study to talk.
“I got a job,” she tells me as we sit down.
“What made you decide to go back to work?”
“After you and I talked this summer, I decided to just be honest with Trevor. Told him pretty much what I told you,” she says. “He suggested the same thing. Thought I should get out of the house, get back into a routine. So I called my old boss, and it was as easy as that.”
“When do you start?” I ask.
“Second week in January,” she says with a little uncertainty.
“You ready to leave Connor and Bailey?”
“Yes and no.” Tori is a great mom and is very attached to her kids, so it makes sense that this transition would be hard for her since she’s been a stay-at-home mom for the past four years.
“It’ll be fine,” I say. “So you and Trevor are on the same page?”
“He never got off track. It was me. I think I’ve been miserable because I’ve been lost. I wasn’t doing anything about it, and it made me start questioning everything. But he’s supportive. Always has been. He just had no clue how I was feeling. Once I was honest with him, things started to change. So yeah, we’re good.”
“Good.”
“What about you?” she questions.
“What do you mean?” I ask, not understanding what she’s asking.
“Being honest,” she starts, “Candace told me that she thinks you brought her here because you feel sorry for her.”
“She said that?” I feel horrible that she would even think that.
Tori nods her head and then questions, “How long do you plan on avoiding telling her how you feel?”