Page 7 of Balancing Act

“Already? We just had lunch.”

“It’s never too soon for cheese dip,” Lucas observed.

“He’s right,” Jake agreed. “Besides, it’s not a Prenticefamily football-watching party without cheese dip.”

“Please, Mom?” Emma added.

Willow surrendered and headed downstairs to the kitchen. She had just removed a glass bowl filled with melted Velveeta from the microwave when a cheer erupted upstairs. She picked out her son’s gleeful voice and rolled her eyes. The little traitor was rooting for the Aggies over Willow’s beloved Longhorns today.

As she opened a can of Rotel tomatoes, she got a little teary-eyed. She did dearly love her family. Being around them soothed a wounded spot in her soul. She wished she’d listened to her mother and moved the kids home to Texas after Andy died and before Genevieve up and moved to Colorado. They’d needed the family that Willow had pushedaway. In her defense, she’d been such an emotional wreck at the time. Making any decision, much less one as big as moving, had been a hill too high to climb.

She’d been grieving. She’d been angry and afraid and ashamed. The anger and fear were bad enough, but the shame had debilitated her. She’d worn it like a pair of concrete sneakers—big sneakers, like size eleven. She’d found it nearly impossible to do more than shuffle around Nashville, much less move home to Texas. Home to her mother.

Who had been right about Andy Eldridge all along.

Willow dumped the tomatoes into the melted Velveeta, picked up a wooden spoon to stir the gooey combo, and sighed. She had yet to have that talk she needed to have with her mother. Drew’s panic attack at camp had ended any attempt last summer, and in the months since, she never found a good opportunity for it. Didn’t help anything that she dreaded the conversation like the bathroom scale following a chocolate binge.

“Well, it’s New Year’s Day,” she murmured. “A new year. A new beginning.”

She’d talk to her mother and talk to the kids. It was time to bust up those concrete sneakers and move forward with her life.

Another roar exploded from upstairs. Sounded like she was missing a good game. Willow gave the cheese dip one final stir and set down the spoon. With the bowl in one hand and a bag of chips in the other, she headed back upstairs.

In the media room, her brothers reclined in the armchairs in front of the big screen. Her sister, who liked her team to win in a blowout, nervously paced the back of the room. Tess sat between her mom and Aunt Helen, but instead of watching the big screen, the women huddled over Tess’s phone. Looking at something wedding related, Willow surmised. The big day was only three months away now.

“There you are,” Jake said, rising from his seat. “We’ve been wondering what was keeping you.”

Brooke delightedly eyed the bowl that Willow set on the snack table. “I’m going to make a pig of myself. I figure calories today are free due to all the skiing I’ve done since Christmas.”

“I agree,” Tess said. “Today we splurge because tomorrow we all start our wedding diets.”

The bridegroom paused while reaching for a paper plate. With alarm in his voice, he asked, “What wedding diet?”

“I’m going to lose eight pounds before your wedding,” Aunt Helen announced. “I have three months. I can do it.”

“I don’t want to hear about a wedding diet,” Jake insisted.

Not taking his gaze off the game, Lucas smirked. “You have packed on a few pounds over the holidays, bro.”

Shielding the action from Emma and Drew, the groom flipped his best man the bird.

“Consider it a wedding health plan, honey,” Tess said, giving Jake an encouraging smile. “You and I have been working way too hard.”

“Hey, don’t blame me. You’re the one who brought three new projects into the firm in December.”

“I know. But between work and the wedding prep, for the next few months our stress levels will be through the roof. That’s why I think a diet-and-exercise plan focused on health is a good idea for us.”

Jake scowled and returned his attention to filling his plate with chips and slathering them with dip. Aunt Helen asked, “Aren’t y’all using a wedding planner? How much prep do you have left? I’ll be glad to pitch in to help. I wouldn’t mind making a trip or two to Austin, and I know Genevieve would be happy to step up what she’s doing on your behalf, too.”

“Thank you,” Tess said. “I may take you up on the offer.”

Watching the game, Drew shouted, “Fumble!”

“Who’s got it?” Jake asked.

Every Prentice in the room shouted, “Nebraska!”

Tess looked at them like they were crazy. “Nebraska?”

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