Page 7 of Everything I Promise

“I’m fine Mom. I am giving myself one day to have a pity party. So I have until today when I go to pick Oliver up. I’m eating a lot of sugar. Binging a lot of true crime on Netflix, and then I’m going to shower and pull it together.” I say with finality in my voice.

“Ok. If you say so.” She flops down on the couch next to me, “Give me a donut and that blanket.” God, I love my mom. She always offers unwavering support without question.

I hand her a donut and she snuggles up next to me. We choose a true crime documentary and start our day of consuming sugar and murder documentaries.

My pity party with Mom ended up having a lot of tears, and a lot of self doubt about my parenting skills and decisions, which I was not expecting. Then I packed it all away, took a shower, and got my boy from his first day of school. What else is a single mom to do?

“Hey buddy, how was your day?” I ask, reaching out my arms to him.

Oliver comes running to me, slamming into my legs to give me a hug as he always does. “It was so fun, Mom! I played football with my new friends , and my teacher is so nice!” He is overflowing with happiness and his smile is so big, it makes me see yet again that I’ve made the right choice. Maybe allowing myself one pity party day is good. I need to focus more on the positives!

“I’m so glad you love your new school, buddy. I think first grade is going to be really fun for you. What do you think about heading to the park?” I take his backpack from him.

“Yes! Can we stop for a snack too?” He puts his hands together and looks up at me with puppy eyes. After my binge on sugar all day, how am I going to deny him a simple snack? I feel like that is asking for bad karma.

“Sure. Want to stop for some ice cream? We can eat it while we walk to the park.” I take his hand and start to walk downtown.

“Yes! Ice cream is my favorite!” He is bouncing with excitement as we walk, making me chuckle.

On the way to the diner, I see afor salesign in the window of one of the shops on Main Street. It looks like the perfect spot for a new salon.

I take a photo of the sign and send it to Mom. She will have all the answers for me when we get home. I swear she should be a private investigator, one little piece of information and she can find anything you want.

I don’t want to get my hopes up too high, but my mind immediately starts to think of ways I could build up the salon and how I would decorate it. There is no salon in Lupine Valley, everyone has to travel to another town, and if there is one thing that I appreciate most about this place, it’s their love of supporting their own. So I am having a hard time reigning myself in with this new dream. My mind is racing with plans.

By the time we make it to the park Oliver is covered head to toe in chocolate ice cream and it’s raining.Great.

I send Mom a text and ask if she can come pick us up as we run to the gazebo for shelter to avoid the storm I was not prepared for. She agrees to come get us without even a hint of aggravation at my inability to check the weather. We hide out under the gazebo while we wait for her. Oliver looks bummed out about thepark but he is happy he got some ice cream at least, so the pout leaves quickly.

Mom pulls up and we run to her car.

“Oh my gosh! Look at you!” She takes in the sight of Oliver covered in chocolate.

“I’m so sorry Mom. I didn’t even look at the weather today to see that it was going to rain before I suggested a walk to the park and ice cream.” I look at Oliver and wince at how much chocolate has dripped down his front.

“No worries, honey. We can always wash the chocolate out. Looks like you had a good day today, little guy!” She looks back at Oliver, smiling.

“I did, Grammy! It was so fun!” Oliver beams at her, his toothless smile showing.

“Well you can tell me all about it while you help me make mashed potatoes this evening.” She leaves the park and starts to head toward home.

He loves helping Mom cook. The two of them are always coming up with new ideas for food to make. I let them talk about their ideas for what they can put in the mashed potatoes and stay quiet until I have to object to Oliver's idea to add chocolate chips into the mashed potatoes. He bursts into a fit of laughter when I pretend to be outraged that he would do such a thing.

When we get home Mom and Oliver start cooking dinner. I grab my laptop from my bedroom and set up on the couch. I pull up the listing that Mom found for me, and fall in love with the photos of the commercial space.

My friend Lauren is the realtor and I’ve never been so grateful to grow up in a small town where everyone knows everyone. I shoot a text off to Lauren and ask her about the property.

Me:Hey Lauren, I just saw the commercial space on Main Street for sale and when I looked it up I saw you were the realtor. I am looking for a spot to open a new salon. Do you have any information you can send me?

My phone rings almost immediately. I laugh and head out to the porch to take the phone call.

“Hey, Lauren! How are you?” I answer.

“I’m great, girl! I was so excited to see you were back in town!” she says with excitement.

“Yeah, Oliver and I are so happy to be back home for sure.”

“Okay, so the property on Main Street. It’s actually a two unit property. The downstairs is a blank slate for a business and the upstairs is a two bedroom, one bathroom apartment.”

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