West’s greatest hits. His music never failed to lift my mood. Anticipating the catchy beat, I was already smiling as I closed the door, just in time for an incoming call to interrupt the first song.
“Sorry, Collin. We’ll have to pick this up later.” I grinned as I saw the caller ID, then stabbed a finger at the accept button. “Hey there, Mama. To what do I owe the pleasure?”
“Do I need a reason to call my only daughter?” Mom sounded like the voice of God coming over the car speakers. Where Collin West deserved to test the limits of the sound system in a five-year-old Honda, she did not. I turned down the volume and put the car in gear.
“Usually.”
“Kennedy.” The heavy accent on that first syllable dripped with mock disappointment. “Why would you say such a thing after I sacrificed everything to raise you?”
“I think that might be a record. Five-seconds in and the guilt-knife is already firmly lodged in my stomach. Have you considered going pro?”
Her laughter filled the vehicle and sent a rush of familiarity to release the tension in my shoulders. It reminded me of long nights tucked under her arm, the two of us stealing popcorn from the bowl on her lap as we watched movies I was too young to understand. Of her perched on the edge of my bed, giving me terrible advice on relationships like a wizened sage. My mom had been my best friend for a long time. Maybe that made me weird, but I was pretty sure the rest of the world could do with a little more weird in their life.
“How was work today?” she asked. “Any better?”
“On a scale of one to exhausted, I’m too tired to pick a number and finish the joke.”
Fast food signs beckoned as I passed, but, remembering the accusations Nan’s stairs squealed that morning, I locked my gaze on the road ahead. The last thing I needed was another cheap hamburger. Even if they were delicious.
Mom let loose a hearty sigh. She hated how much time I dedicated to my job, probably because it was the one personality trait I got from my dad. “What you need is a house husband,” she said. “Someone waiting for you with a glass of wine and a bubble bath after a long day of saving the world. Shirtless, of course. With just the right amount of chest hair. Bonus points if he’s independently wealthy and skilled in the art of therapeutic massage. Oooh! And low-slung gray sweats that accent all the right places…”
With each addition to the description, I chuckled a little more. If I knew my mother, that particular daydream had more to do with her than me. “Why do I get the feeling you’ve spent more than the last ten seconds fantasizing about that list?”
“Can’t blame a woman for dreaming. Right?”
“I hate to burst your bubble, but that’s not how it works. Men are too selfish to be house husbands. Well, selfishness doesn’t honor gender lines, but you get my point.” I passed my favorite burger joint with the restraint of a saint. “I have no desire to let someone devour my life only for him to leave when things get real.”
Mom made a sound like she was coughing up a hairball. I tweaked the volume down another notch. “Just because it happened to me…”
“Not just you. Grandma Rosey, too. In fact, the only woman in our family it didn’t happen to is Nana Maxine, and that’s because Grandpa died when they still liked each other.”
That and she belonged to Dad’s side of the family so whatever curse Mom and I had hanging over our heads didn’t affect her.
The image of Captain Asshole staking out Nan’s place danced through my mind and my lady parts reacted with an inappropriate amount of glee. Who would have thought tall, dark, and creepy would do it for me? Not this strong, independent woman, capable of making healthy relationship choices. That was for sure.
Apparently, I’d been celibate too long. Not by choice. Not necessarily. Doctoring kept me busy, the state of the world kept me cynical, and the curse of my mom and grandma’s failed marriages hung over my head.
“Hey, Kiki…?” Mom’s voice was as soft as her hand brushing back my hair for a goodnight kiss. “I’m proud of you every day.”
I must have been more tired than I realized because I swallowed down a lump the size of my student loans.
“I take back everything I