“And I won’t be the first one to do it, either. You guys want to ride together to the gym tomorrow?”
“Yes, sure.” She felt like dancing. But knowing her, she’d fall flat on her bottom. “I’m so excited. The girls are gonna flip. Parsimonious—woo hoo!”
“I hope you have a great time.”
She gathered up her things and rushed out, stopping by the door. “And you… you need to have an open mind tonight. Okay?”
“I’m going to nod my head, and you can pretend that means I’m taking your sage advice.”
“If you were my kid, I’d call you a smart aleck.”
He got his signature grouchy look, but it didn’t stop Anne from wishing she could repeat that impromptu hug.
Great… even the grouchy thing isn’t working anymore.
“I’m not your kid, and I don’t want to be,” he mumbled.
It’s a good thing, too. I’d be a freak if I were having these thoughts about my son.
Emily and Charlie
Leaving early, Anne decided she had time to stop by the wood shop. She opened the door to find Mr. Hamilton carving at his worktable. “Hey Mr. Hamilton.”
“Hello Anne.”
“I’m on my way home. My girls are coming in town today. I wanted to bring them by the shop, but I wasn’t sure when you would be around this weekend.”
“Hon, I will be here the whole weekend. You can come by any time. If the door’s locked, just ring the buzzer. I’d love to meet your girls.”
“Have you heard from Gram, I mean, Mrs. Gherring?”
He smiled. “Yes, she came by today.”
“I think I got her in trouble with her grandson. He figured out we were plotting to find him a wife.”
He chuckled. “Don’t worry about Mrs. Gherring. Steven Gherring is no match for that woman. No one is.”
“Yes, you’re probably right. I haven’t known her for long, but she seems to get her way.”
“So, I’ll see you sometime this weekend.”
“Sure thing. See you soon.”
Anne beat her girls to the apartment by twenty minutes, just enough time to change clothes and pick up the apartment. She ran downstairs to surprise the girls, who thought they would beat her home. She was pacing in the lobby when the taxi pulled up outside. Anne ran outside as the girls spilled out of the car with lots of hugs and laughing. Chaos ensued as bags were hauled from the car and Emily had to go back and pay the taxi driver. Antonio came out to meet them and help with luggage.
Once inside the lobby, Rayna joined the crew.
Anne started the introductions. “This is Emily, this is Charlie, and this is Rayna and this is Antonio.”
“Antonio looks just like you described him,” said Charlie.
Emily piped in, “I understand my mom has been interfering in your lives. Sorry about that. We just can’t control her.”
Rayna said, “No, it’s okay. I was clueless before your mom came.”
“Yes, Rayna didn’t even know I was alive before Anne started working on her,” said Antonio.
“Mom, why are you home early? I thought you had a lot of work to do on that PowerPoint for Switzerland.”