it. My mother probably will. Why? Is that going to be a problem?”
“I don’t know,” Hailey frowned. “I still don’t know where her head is at half the time. I think I’ll just take her into town and run some errands. She’ll enjoy the trip, and we can avoid the entire fiasco.”
“You really think it would be that bad?” I asked. “Do you ever think that maybe you are just getting worked up over nothing? There can’t always be a bad guy looming around the corner. Maybe they’ll have a great time together.”
“I don’t think that it would be bad. I just know how many questions your mom asked last time. It’s a little intrusive, I don’t think I want her doing that to my mom. Her health is still an issue. Can’t they just do it another time?”
“Well, you’re her daughter in law so I’d think she has a right to get to know you,” I said.
Hailey glared at me. “Yeah, I get that, thanks. But when she asks my mom ten times if I’m pregnant, my mother is going to start thinking I’m pregnant or worse, that we are really married. Sorry but I don’t feel like having my mother’s mental health challenged just so you can play house.”
My jaw ground together. “I just wanted to know if you felt like hanging out with them for a while.”
“Thank you for the offer, but I think I’m going to decline this time,” she shot back.
I sighed as she set a plate of food in front of me. I couldn’t be sure if I wanted to eat after our little tiff. I understood where she was coming from with her mother. Yet I always seemed to say things the wrong way. I’d spent so long on my own, I was struggling to remember that in a relationship, there were two of us.
“Hailey,” I said.
“Do we really have to keep talking about this?”
“I’d really like too. Listen, last night, I opened up more to you than I have anyone else in a while, and it actually felt good. I don’t want to force a relationship with my parents if you don’t want one, but it will really help me out if you’d consider spending some time with them.”
She let out an exasperated little noise before turning back to me. “Fine. But I’m going to have the aide take my mom into town while they are here. I know that you think this can be some big, happy, exchange but she slips up. Are you really willing to risk Fort Davis on my mother’s questionable memory?”
My heart skipped, and I shook my head. “No, I think that’s a good idea. This really does mean a lot to me, thank you.”
“No problem, what are friends for?”
I gasped, my hand flying dramatically to my chest. “Mrs. Wheeler, did you just admit that we were friends? I never thought the day would come!”
A biscuit came soaring through the air, narrowly missing my head as Hailey grinned at me. Her smile lit up my heart, even if I were ducking for cover and under attack. I laughed as I plucked a blueberry from my plate and threw it in her direction. She gave a little yelp as it bounced off her breast and into the frying pan with the bacon grease.
A few hours later and just a few minutes after Hailey’s mom had left, my parents pulled into the driveway. Their visits were always a little unexpected, but since Hailey’s arrival, they’d had the decency to start giving me a little bit of notice. Hailey appeared next to me on the porch, her hand sliding into mine. I fought the urge to smile, a blue dot barely visible on the tip of her dress.
When she looked up at me and arched a brow, all I could do was chuckle softly. My mother hugged us both while my father asked about the new herd we’d gotten in. The four of us settled onto the porch and into separate conversations, though I was listening with one ear as Hailey and my mom spoke. I’d be right there to bail her out if the conversation got too intense.
“So, your mother is living in the guest house?” my mom asked.
Hailey nodded. “Yes, she has health problems and can’t really be left alone. We still have our apartment farther north. She asked me to hang onto it as long as possible.”
“I think it’s wonderful you’re taking such good care of her.