Page 13 of Their Stolen Kisses
“She does for sure.” The two shared a smile. “I’d better get going, though. I have an appointment to get to. See you later, Eleanor?”
I moved quickly to open the door so Eli could wheel out. “He seems nice,” I told my mom as I sat down across the table from her.
“He’s a wonderful person. A little stubborn, though. They wanted to give him an electric wheelchair, but he wouldn’t have it. Said that if he didn’t get some exercise, even if it was just rolling a chair with his arms, he’d go crazy.”
“Hm. Who does that sound like to you?” I asked playfully.
“No idea.” My mom’s brown eyes sparkled as she brushed her straight shoulder-length hair out of her face. She would be sixty-three in April, but she looked younger, probably a side-effect of being cheerful all the time.
“How are you feeling?” I asked, looking her up and down. The walker she had been using last time I visited was still beside her chair, but now a cane leaned against the walker.
“Well, I’m still on medication, but I feel so much less tired than I did. And my therapist told me that if I feel up to it, I can use the cane instead of the walker-”
“-So of course, you’ve been only doing that,” I finished for her, thrilled for her progress.
“Yeah. The walker hasn’t moved from that spot in days.”
“So therapy has been going well?”
“Mostly, very well. They think I’ll be released within a few weeks - about what we were told after the surgery.” My mother’s smile dropped just a little. More therapy meant more time in the nursing home, which meant more money… and that was in short supply already.
This was the only way, though. We’d talked at length before the surgery. We only had one car between us, and I had work. I couldn’t be home to help my mother recover from surgery and take her to therapy appointments, and Blue Pines was partially covered by insurance, so... This was what we had settled on.
“I made an extra payment on the mortgage this month,” I blurted out quickly, determined to fix that lopsided smile.
I succeeded. “Diana, that’s wonderful! How did you do that?”
“I found extra work as an overnight nanny. Two-hundred-and-fifty dollars a night,” I said proudly.
“Wow, Honey, that’s great! But that’s a lot of money. Did you nanny for anyone I know?”
“Uh-” The memory of gentle lips and needy kisses strangled my words, and I had to take a deep breath to cool my warming face. “Sort of? He’s the CEO of Pinnacle Real Estate. He has a kid and he had to go - he had to go on a business trip.”
“There’s nothing wrong with that, Diana.” My mom searched my face. “Did something happen?”
Did I want to talk about our stolen kisses yet? Could I even talk about something when I didn’t really know how to feel about it? My mom hadn’t jumped at the chance to tell me about Eli and their quick kiss.Maybe I should wait a while and see what happens with Cameron before I say anything that could worry my mother.
“No, I was just a little worried because he’s my boss.” My heart sank with guilt at the lie. “I think it’s fine now, though. And he didn’t approach me with the offer, his personal assistant did.”
“Then you definitely have nothing to worry about. That sounds perfectly professional and I’m so glad you didn’t have to spend too much time job searching!”
“Me too. I think Cameron will need me once more, which gives me time to figure something else out to do for work after. We still need to make three payments before we catch up.”
“I can’t believe I let us get four months behind. I was so busy calculating costs and figuring things out before the surgery,” my mom sighed. “I’ll make it up to you when I get out of prison.”
I rolled my eyes. “A nursing home is not a prison, Mom. Less than half of the people here are permanent residents.”
“That’s what they want you to believe.” My mom winked and looked around the enclosed balcony significantly.
I played along, widening my eyes and glancing around the balcony like I expected to see cameras or dark, humanoid shadows. “Should we give them something to watch?”
“Sure. The tea’s in the cabinet above the microwave.”
Our laughter echoed through the room.
