Page 81 of Taylor

“Oh yeah? Are things working out with Sasha?” asked her mother with an encouraging smile.

“What are you doing for her?” asked her sister.

Alice had told herself Isabelle meant well, but she always made her feel like such a child.

“Yeah, I really like working with her,” she said. While that wasn’t a lie, it also wasn’t the full truth. “I’m mostly helping with posting and scheduling post, stuff like that.”

“My offer still stands,” Isabelle said.

“Well, I’m glad it’s working out. I thought that might be a good fit for you,” her mom said with a self-congratulatory air. “I’ve heard so much about how much work she’s done to get attendance up this year. I think she even got engaged to Conner McPhee. Maybe you could nab yourself a handsome hockey player while you’re there.”

“What do you think dad would do if I started dating a player?” Alice blurted.

The look on her mom’s face had her instantly regretting her words.

“I mean, I guess it would depend on the player, but I was just kidding. You probably won’t even have too much contact with the players,” she said, brushing it off.

Part of Alice wanted to say,Oh yeah? Well, it just so happens I am dating a player. Not just any player but one of the top defensemen in the league, but she would wait until Taylor got home to have that conversation with her dad first.

“Plus, you don’t need to focus on that right now. You need to focus on your new job and getting everything on track there. See if this one works out,” said her sister.

“It might be nice if she found someone to take care of her,” her mother said to Isabelle.

“I think she should focus on taking care of herself. Being self-sufficient is so much more important.”

“I agree, but I just think she might be happier if she wasn’t alone,” said her mother.

The two women sat across from the table, discussing Alice and how she should live her life like she wasn’t even here.

Alice just smiled and took a sip of her water.

No wonder she had no self-confidence. Although, for once, she was finally able to see it and be annoyed by it and not beat herself up. That was progress, at least.

Alice fidgeted nervously in her seat and ran her hand through her hair.

“Did you dye your hair again?” her mother groaned.

How was it possible she was almost thirty and her mom still treated her like she was sixteen?

“Yes, I did,” Alice answered curtly.

And I got a tattoo.

“What does Sasha say about it?”

“Nothing. It’s fine, Mom.”

Her mom just hummed in judgment.

“Oh, I did run into Steve the other day. He was asking about you.”

Another thing she didn’t want to talk about with her mom. But boys and her job were all they ever really wanted to talk about.

Her mother was an accomplished woman. She was a high-school teacher for most of Alice’s life until she retired early, when her brother had kids and became a “full-time grandma,” as she tells anyone who will listen. But the way she pushed Alice to either find someone to take care of her or learn how to take care of herself always made her feel like shit.

“That’s nice,” Alice said, hoping for a subject change.

“Do you still talk to him?” asked Isabelle.

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