Page 95 of Game Changer
“I know this is your kitchen, I hope it’s okay that I’ve made myself at home here.”
“Of course!”Her smile is warm, but her eyes still gleam with curiosity.“Have you been here the whole summer, or are you just visiting for the weekend?”
“I came with Jax back at the end of June.”
“Oh, lovely.”
“I’m just putting out some lunch.I don’t know if you’ve eaten?”
“No, we haven’t.That speed demon Tori wouldn’t even stop for ice cream in Neepawa, she was so excited to get here and see Jax.”Mrs.Thompson opens the fridge and pulls out a bottle of mustard.“Oh, I see you have some fancy mustards.”
“Yes, we picked those up at one of the stores.They’re apparently made in Winnipeg.I really like the honey horseradish one.”
“Hmm.”She picks them up as well and carries them over to the dining table.
I don’t know what that means.Does she disapprove of fancy mustard?Or maybe it’s me she disapproves of?
I bring everything else to the table as Jax chats with his grandpa and mom.They cross the big open living room as Jax updates them about the small plumbing leak he fixed and how he cleaned up the area going down to the dock.
We sit down at the table, very informally as everyone makes their own sandwich and helps themselves to salad as well as some pickles and olives I put in small serving dishes.Jax and his family are all talking at once, and I just try to take it all in.
Then Mrs.Wynn says to me, “Did I hear you say you came here with Jax?”
“That’s right.”
“So you’ve been here a few weeks then.”
“Yes, almost a month, actually.”
“What do you do for a living?”Mrs.Wynn asks.
“I’m a teacher.I teach third grade in Chicago.”
“Ah.So you have the whole summer off.”
“Yes.”I smile.“And it’s been so nice.I really appreciate the opportunity to stay here.It’s a beautiful place.”
“It’s nice that you haven’t been alone this whole time.”Mrs.Wynn slants Jax a glance.
“Don’t get any ideas, Mom.Molly and I are just friends.”
I feel a little pinch in my chest.
She feigns indignance.“I don’t have any ideas.”
“Uh huh.”Jax’s mouth twists up against a smile.
Despite this warning, Mrs.Wynn is very interested in me and my life, asking lots of questions.She has such a warm and attentive manner that it doesn’t feel like I’m being grilled.I want to tell her my life story from birth up to leaving Steve at the altar.Okay, maybe not that part.Then I remember she’s a psychologist.Is she analyzing me?She absolutely knows how nervous I am.That I’m a bit crazy.And that I might be a bit crazy for her son.
What?
I force that thought away so I can focus on the conversation.I’ll take it out and examine it later.Or maybe never.I should never think of that again.
After lunch, we all walk down to the dock.Jax carries chairs down from the deck for his grandma and mom to sit in.It’s another hot, sunny day, and I sit on the dock and swish my feet through the cool water, taking in the vista of the bright blue lake, the shoreline opposite rough with jagged evergreen trees.
A swelling sadness fills my chest at the thought that I only have a couple more days here.I’ll be leaving Sunday afternoon with Jax’s family.They’re going to drop me at a hotel near the airport, and I’ll take an early flight Monday morning to Chicago.Jax’s mom is staying another week in Winnipeg with her parents.
There are things I’m looking forward to—Iama city girl, after all, and I love my hometown.I miss my friends and my parents.I miss night clubs and restaurants and Nordstrom Rack.But I know without a doubt I’m going to miss this place when I’m gone.Especially knowing I’ll never come back here.And also knowing it’ll never be the same with Jax again.
