Mom was in her room when I got home.
I sat at the corner of the bed and squeezed her feet through the floral bedspread. The shades were down, and it was dark.
She sat up against the headboard. “How did it go?”
“She says she thinks we should list it soon. The middle of the summer season will be the best time to show it because of the weather. She also thinks we should list it for between 800 and 900 grand.”
My mother blinked a few times as she processed the information. “That’s more than I thought.”
“I know. Me, too. But she seems confident we can get close to asking.”
“It all sounds too good to be true.”
“You mean the listing price?”
“What aren’t you telling me, Heather? You’ve been acting strange. Does it have to do with Noah?”
“No. Nothing has changed with Noah.”
Except for the fact that he touched my face and made me forget my own name for half the day.
“But there is something…” she said.
I sighed. “Yes.”
“What is it?”
It was now or never. I needed to tell her.
“So, um…remember I was telling you about the nursing program at the University of Vermont, and we talked about how nice Burlington is and all that?”
“Yes.”
“Well, some time ago, I decided to bite the bullet and apply.” I hesitated. “I got in. It’s for the spring semester, though. So it wouldn’t be right away.”
She clutched her chest as if that news physically pained her.
“Are you alright?” I asked.
“I knew this was coming. I just…”
“I hope you know how hard this is for me. I promise not to go unless you’re settled. You won’t be alone. I will make sure of it. I’ve been talking to Aunt Katy…”
“Katy? You’re gonna pawn me off on my flighty sister?”
“Katy may be flighty, but she loves you. She seems willing to move out here. She can do her art from anywhere. She said she wants to do this for me. It’s a sacrifice for her, but she’s willing to do it, and I’m extremely grateful. You have to be open to it.”
My mother’s sister, Katy, had been going through a messy divorce for the past few years. Now that everything was finally settled, she had the option to move. Katy was an oil painter who sold her work to small galleries across New England.
“I can live on my own,” my mother said.
“We’ve already had this discussion. It’s not that I don’t think you could live on your own most days, but you need to be around people. You need to have someone looking out for you even on days when you don’t need it. And there’s no way I would leave you alone, because some days you do need it, so there’s that.”
“I can’t stop you from going. I know that. I’ve kept you here long enough.”
My eyes began to water. “It’s really hard for me to think about leaving.”
She reached her hand out to me. “I know. You’re a good girl…my angel.”
“We still have plenty of time. And thanks to Noah, it’s looking like we might actually be able to sell this place. So everything is going according to plan.”
We were quiet for a bit. Then she said, “Noah really has turned out to be a godsend, hasn’t he?”
“I’m glad you’ve learned to trust him, Mom.”
“I might trust him, but I still think he has feelings for you.”
“I’m not sure what you’re basing that on.”
Actually, today was the first day I’d thought she could be right. But I wasn’t a hundred-percent convinced I wasn’t reading into things too much. He’d touched my cheek, not my clit, for heaven’s sake. Maybe he’d just seen that I was upset with myself and was trying to make me feel better. Still, my gut told me there was something to the electricity I felt when he touched me, even if it was just my face.
“You do know you two have been gardening right outside my bedroom window, right? I’ve listened to your conversations. He genuinely likes you.”
“He likes me, yes, but not in that way. He likes me like a little sister.”
“No way I’m buying that, Heather. He might have chosen not to act on it, and in many ways, I commend him for that. But he most definitely has feelings for you.”
What was wrong with me that hearing her say that gave me goosebumps? Am I delusional? Was this entire day one big hallucination? Even if Noah were developing feelings for me and somehow made it known today, he was leaving, and now so was I.
Besides, I still didn’t think Noah would ever cross that line.
“You know…he’s divorced,” I said.
“Really? Some stupid woman let that man go?”
“I know, right?” I chuckled. “He takes a lot of the blame for their marriage ending. He said he put his career first a lot in his twenties and neglected their relationship. He recognizes his mistakes, though, and I have a feeling the lucky woman who nabs him next is going to reap the benefits of that.”