Page 93 of The End of Summer

Then she tells me she’s seeing someone. His name is Rank. No, notFrank. Rank. As inThe Kingrankshigher than the nine in cards. Or, your breath smellsrank.

Poor guy.

She met him at yoga. He sells fancy mailboxes for a living.

She’s happy.

That’s all that matters.

Sheasks me again. “How areyoudoing, sweetheart? Tell me everything.” She sips her cider. “I want to know about the girlfriend, the – oh, wait. Is it okay that I call her that?”

I chuckle. “Yes, Ma. Gretchen’s my girlfriend.”

She claps. “I love it!” she exclaims. “Okay, so I need to know about her, about the job interview, about your living situation. Wherever you want to start. The floor is yours.” My mother beams at me.

“I guess I’ll start with Gretchen. She’s amazing. I’m really into her.”

“Yeah?”

I nod. “She’s funny, smart, beautiful. Total package,” I say. “She’s studying to be a teacher.”

“And what does she do now?”

“She’s in school. She’s in the process of trying to get an after-school job for the year. But I met her at the Diamond Excelsior. She was a waitress at the pub.”

“Nice,” Mom says. “Good, honest work.”

The irony of this is not lost on me, but I ignore it and go on. “The only issue is, she’s definitely a Cape Cod lifer.”

“I knew there was abut.”

“Well, it’snota but,though. It’s just, I got a job offer today.”

“Brady! That’s amazing!”

“In New York,” I add.

“Wait – you mean, the job you just interviewed for? They offered you the position on the spot?”

“Not exactly. I had the interview this morning, and they called me later in the day. But I have to give them an answer by Monday. And I don’t know what to do.”

“I thought you said that jobwas remote,” she says.

“I thought itwasremote. But apparently, they wrote ‘hybrid’ instead of ‘remote’ in their listing and I confused the two. They said it’s two days from home, three days in the office.”

“I see.” Mom chews on a cheese-dipped pretzel thoughtfully.

“I think the job is such a great fit in every other way, Ma. It’s in market research, which I love, the pay is excellent, good benefits. There’s even a 401k.”

“But…”

“But, what about Gretchen? I love her.”

She swallows back a grin. I’m sure she’d classify this in theAw, look how cutecategory. “And there’s no way she would move to New York?” she asks.

“She can’t. She’s in the process of being placed in her student teaching for the year. Sheownsher condo. Like, what 26 year-old do you know of who actually owns real estate?”

“Sounds pretty put together.”

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