why all the time, but you took it to another level. And you were such a little sponge for information.”
Mom came in with three big mugs of coffee, passing them out before taking a seat.
“Did you say you were thinking of getting into journalism?” she asked, her eyebrows raised in interest. She turned to Dad. “Did you tell her about how when she was a kid we couldn’t tell her anything about people we knew because she’d always ask them about it?” She laughed prettily. “Remember that time when I mentioned the Wilsons were having some difficulties with their marriage, and the very next time we were out in public and ran into some friends our little reporter here asked the Richardsons for some additional information?”
Dad let out his usual big belly laugh, and I felt my cheeks reddened. “Oh yeah!” he said. “Well, it worked out for the best. Once the Wilsons got word their marriage was the talk of the town, they sorted themselves out nice and quick.”
“I wasn’t like that,” I said, sticking up for myself. “You’re making me sound like a gossip.”
“You’re just inquisitive is all,” Mom said, placing her hand on my leg. “And I think that means you’d be a great journalist.”
“Well, it wouldn’t be that sort of stuff, exactly,” I said.
“Whatever it is,” Dad assured. “I’m sure you’ll be great at it.”
“But did you really need to go all the way to White Pines?” Mom asked, concern in her voice.
“Mom, I really don’t want to have this conversation again.”
“I know, I know,” she said. “But sweetheart, you had everything you needed here. You had a job, a home, friends and family…and then you gave it all up.”
“Laura,” Dad lightly chided. “Remember what we said about her being a grown adult?”
“And she is a grown adult – but not that grown. Maybe it was a bit of a rash decision to leave your life behind because of a relationship that went bad?”
“It wasn’t rash, Mom,” I said. “It was the push I needed to start fresh. And I’m only forty-five minutes away – not like I moved to New York or something.”
Mom let out a noise of relief. “And thank God for that. Did you hear that the Welsh’s girl, Cecily, went to New York? Get this – she has a job where she doesn’t even get paid, and a single room in an apartment she shares with four other people is a thousand dollars. Insane!”
I chuckled, lifting my coffee to my lips. If there was one thing that got Mom going, it was the idea of someone leaving their hometown. In her mind, once roots were down there was no reason to sever them. Sometimes I wondered if she was right. Everything had happened so quickly after Andrew that at times I felt like I’d gotten caught up in things more than made my own decision.
But no sense in thinking about that.
“Where’s Bethany?” I asked. “She’s still planning on coming, right?”
Bethany was my sister, younger than me and still living in Denver with her two-year-old son Parker and her husband Dean.
Dad checked his phone. “She sent a text an hour ago saying she was on her way. But you how much of a handful Parker can be.”
“And Dean’s out on the road again for work,” Mom said. “In LA, believe it or not.”
Before the conversation could go any further, the sound of tires on the snow came from outside. I knew right away it was Bethany.
“That has to be her,” Mom said. “Come on!”
We all went to the door and opened it, my parents planning to greet Bethany the same way they’d given to me. The car outside was the dark blue Rav 4 Bethany drove. Parker was at the back window, an eager expression on his adorable face.
While I took after Mom, Bethany looked more like Dad. She was tall and lean with long limbs, short dark hair, and a pretty but serious face. Parker was as cute as they came, dressed in a big puffy coat, his eyes the same blue as mine and Mom’s. Everyone gave everyone hugs before we headed into the living room.
When we were seated again, I, as I often did, thought about Bethany, how she’d been so sick when she was younger. I was lucky – we all were— that she was in such good health. And those memories always reminded me to never, ever take family for granted.
“Come here, kiddo,” I said to Parker. “Say