Better Than Home: Better Than Good Novella

To be fair, she asked about everything going on in our lives, so I gave her a full report. I told her about the fixer-upper we were supposed to check out on Saturday, and mentioned that Aaron had given his two-week notice before telling her about my raise and the contract I’d signed with my firm.

In retrospect, I shouldn’t have said a word, but after a year and a half of not having any good news, it felt really nice to share something positive.

“We’re so pleased for you, honey. Dad is going to go bonkers when I tell him.”

I smiled stupidly at the row of open tabs on my computer screen. “I’ll call him later. But you know, it was just a raise…not the whole package. I’m still waiting for the partnership contract.”

“You’ll get it. They probably just wanted to show their appreciation, and it’s so well deserved.”

“Thanks, Mom.”

“Now…I have a quick question or two about the house and Aaron’s job.”

Uh-oh. I peeked at my watch and planned my exit speech. “We don’t have a house, Mom. We’re just looking at one more tomorrow.”

“But Aaron quit his job.”

“He gave notice on Monday. Trust me, that’s a good thing.”

“Being out of work is never a good thing. Even with a raise, it’s not fair that you’re the one supporting both of you. Aaron’s a perfectly capable young man and…”

Yep. Big mistake. I had no idea what I was thinking.

Wait. I did know. I figured she’d be happy for us. No questions asked. Except my mom always had twenty questions…or more.

The crazy thing was that the person who dealt with my mom best when she got into these unreasonable head spins was Aaron. He charmed her easily and was good at reminding her to respect boundaries without losing his shit. A pretty remarkable feat for a guy who didn’t shy away from drama. I wasn’t sure how he did it, but trust me, I could have used a few tips.

I always mistakenly assumed a rational conversation reminding her that we were intelligent men who put a considerable amount of thought into major life decisions would pacify her. I was always wrong. It wasn’t until I blew up that she finally backed down. But by then, there were tears and guilt and half a suitcase worth of emotional baggage to sift through too. Not fun.

“Mom, I have to go. Don’t worry about Aaron’s job. We have it covered.”

She sighed heavily. “If you say so. I just worry.”

“I know, but there’s no reason. Our finances are in order. And like I said, we’re looking at one more house, but if we hate it, we’ll—”

“Where?”

“Uh, it’s outside of Bethesda,” I replied, unthinking.

“By the Mendez family. You—you’re going to live near your in-laws?” Her voice had taken on a barely audible panic-stricken tone.

Oh, for fuck’s sake.

“Mom, we haven’t seen the house yet. Don’t jump to conclusions.” Okay, that was where I should have stopped. Sadly, I didn’t. “But it would be nice to live near family.”

“Oh. Yes, living near family is especially nice when you have kids.”

I rolled my eyes and studied the overhead lighting in my office. “Well, we’re not there yet, so…don’t worry.”

“Will you be soon? Aaron said you’d talk about starting a family when you returned to DC. But now you’re here, and it seems like you’re going backward if he’s quitting his job. You won’t be able to do the things you talked about unless you move close to family. Aaron’s family.”

“Mom…”

“It’s true. It’s simple logistics. You’ll be working to support your husband and children while Aaron’s with the kids all day. That might work for you. I certainly hope so, but why do I feel like his parents will be the ones who know your children better than Dad and me?”

I pulled my cell from my ear and shook my head in disbelief. That was a whole lot of crazy.

“Mom, I have to go. But for the record, nothing has changed in our lives. We don’t have a new house, we don’t have kids, and Aaron will find another job. Nothing to worry about here, okay?”

She was silent for a moment. “If you say so.”

“I do. Love you.”

I disconnected the call and tossed my phone onto my desk. I’d probably handled that badly, but my mom confused the hell out of me sometimes. It was a good thing I was at the office with more work to do than hours in the day. I could easily push this conversation to the back of my mind and deal with it later.

Or not at all.

I went for the “not at all” option.

Yes, I was doing that a lot lately.

It wasn’t a conscious decision. I just got busy. And yeah, it was also true that I didn’t see any reason to ruin Aaron’s evening by bringing up my mom’s wacky future-trip. When I mulled over our conversation, I realized that her main concern was that we’d move closer to the Mendezes. Which I wouldn’t mind. I loved Aaron’s family.