Page 7 of Until Bax

Plus, the timing was perfect since my lease was up for the apartment I was renting, and I was in the process of looking for a new job, so I felt like it was kismet.

“This is a nice surprise.” Mom smiles, stepping down off the porch. “I didn’t know you were coming by.”

“I just wanted to bring you some stuff from the spa and to check on you guys.” I leave Max and meet her at the bottom step, accepting a kiss to my cheek. “Where’s Dad?”

“Still out and about. He should be home soon.” She opens the screen door to the house and holds it for me. “I made chicken potpie for dinner. Do you want to stick around and eat with Dad and me?”

“I’d like that.” I follow her inside, and just like every time I come home, I feel as if I’ve been teleported back to my childhood. Nothing has changed over the years. All of Liam’s and my old school pictures are still hanging on the walls in chronological order. The blanket I used to curl up under to read is still on the back of the couch. And all of my beloved books are still lining the shelves in the living room. The only difference is that there is more stuff. Boxes and bags of food line the walls to be taken to the local food bank, and other garbage bags are stuffed full of clothes to be dropped off at whatever charity my mom’s church is donating to. And since Mom coordinates all of that stuff, everyone brings all their items to her house each week so she can distribute it all.

“So tell me about your new job. Do you like it?” Mom looks at me over her shoulder as I follow her down the hall to the kitchen.

“I do. The girls I work with all seem really nice, and even though it’s a much smaller practice than where I was working in Chicago, they seem to be pretty busy, which is good.” I drop my stuff on the dining table that is just off the kitchen.

“And your room at Kourtney’s?”

“It’s just a room.” I shrug.

Her eyes come to me over her shoulder once again as she opens the fridge. “You could have stayed in your room here.”

“I know, and Liam said the same thing, but neither of you really have space for me and all my stuff.”

“We would have made room for you, the same way we would have made room for you so you wouldn’t have to stay with Liam in his RV.”

“I know, but you know Dad.” I walk into the kitchen and lean against the counter next to the stove. “The minute I moved in, he would have given me a curfew and a strict bedtime of nine o’clock on weeknights. It was bad enough with Liam calling to ask me where I was and what I was doing if I wasn’t home when he got there.”

Laughing, she carries the pitcher of iced tea she brought out of the fridge to the counter and then gets down two glasses from the cabinet. “No matter how old you get, you’ll always be the baby.”

“Which is why I can’t live with you and Dad or with Liam,” I point out as she hands me a glass of sweet tea, and I take a sip. To this day, my mom still makes the best sun tea I’ve ever had. The secret is she lets the tea sit outside in the sun for a whole day in a glass jar that was passed down to her from her mom, and my great-grandmother before her.

“How’s it been living with Kourtney?”

“Fine. She’s working in LA for the next three weeks, so it’s just me at the house.” That was one of the reasons I decided to take Kourtney up on her offer when she told me she had a room in her house I could rent from her. Even as close as we were while growing up and staying pretty good friends over the years, I haven’t had a roommate since college, and I don’t really want one now. But as she put it, she’s gone all the time as a travel nurse, so it would be just me most of the time. Staying with her would give me a chance to see if I really wanted to settle here and not closer to Nashville before signing a yearlong lease on an apartment.

“How long will she be back for after this job?”

“She’s normally only home for a week or two between any of her contracts.”

“That must be hard on her.”

“She likes it, and she’s making good money. She told me that her house is already almost paid off, which is pretty awesome since she’s the same age as me.”

“Yeah, but what about building actual relationships? That’s difficult to do when you travel all the time.”

“I guess.” I shrug. “But she’s happy, so that’s all that matters.”

“You’re right,” she mutters, but I know her and know that she’s thinking that Kourtney should be out, dating and trying to find a man to settle down with so she can have some kids. And I know this because I’ve heard it from her more than once over the past few years when it comes to me and my own dating life.

“When are the rest of your things getting here?” Thankfully, she changes the subject.

“The delivery guys called this afternoon and said they should have everything to me by seven this evening.”

“That’s kind of late.”

“I know, but it’s better that way. It means I won’t have to miss work tomorrow, and this weekend, I can sort through boxes and figure out what furniture I’m going to take over to Liam’s storage unit.”

“Let me know when you’re ready, and Dad and I can bring his truck over to help.”

“Thanks.” I turn to look toward the hall that leads to the front door when I hear it open, and tiny paws hit the tile in the foyer, followed by the sound of heavy boots. Before my dad reaches the kitchen, Tums and Herb—my parents’ chihuahuas—run into the room and circle the floor between Mom and me, unable to decide who they are more excited to see.

---