Her Big Neighbor

What on earth is going on?

I pull into an empty parking space and grab the flyers before getting out of the car. Everyone seems happy and in good spirits. But I don’t see my mom anywhere. Is this some kind of before school gathering of teachers? I’m about to ask when I hear my name behind me. “Julia!”

My mother comes running out of the crowd, and she looks…radiant. Happier than I’ve seen her in forever. I can’t even explain the change, just that I can tell it’s there. She barely slows down when she reaches me, barreling into me and wrapping me up into a hug.

“I’m sorry,” she says. “I’m so, so sorry. You were right, I’ve been terrible to you about everything.”

I’m so shocked that I think my mouth is hanging open. My mom rarely admits when she’s wrong, because she only admits to things that she truly believes. So whatever got to her must have really impacted her. “What happened to you?”

She smiles down at me. “Actually, Edward did.”

“What?” I stare at her. “I’m confused. Did I get in a car accident and am actually in a coma?”

“You’re awake,” she says, pulling me further away from the crowd of people so that we’re out of earshot. “It actually started last night.”

And then she tells me about what she saw outside, where Edward threw Kevin out of his house. That alone had gotten her thinking, because she had assumed that Edward was on Kevin’s side completely. “But that wasn’t what woke me up,” she says. “This morning I got a call from someone here at the school. They said that they’d heard about the charity getting going, and all that we were willing to do with the school along with Werlin Venture, and that he hoped that I would come and present what are plans were to all the teachers. I had no idea what he was talking about, but I figured it wouldn’t hurt to present our case to teachers. I wanted to do that anyway.

“But when I got here, the auditorium was filled with teachers from all over the county, and the person sitting on the stage with me was Edward. He set this up. Werlin Venture is building an after-school center for Grove High to support under-privileged teens, and Edward asked if it could be run by us. He wants to make centers starting in the county and expanding. On top of that, he’s pulling in more donors to get us started, and he pitched it so effectively that I barely had to speak.”

My mouth is still open in shock. “That’s amazing.”

“I know,” she says. “And I don’t want you to think that I’m suddenly changing my mind because he’s helping with money for the charity. It’s not only that. Rather it’s that I never considered the fact that he would be that type of person. He did this, and you didn’t even know. You didn’t put him up to it.”

“No, I had no idea.”

“I’m sorry,” she says again, shaking her head. “Everything you said was right. I was projecting everything onto you. I should have been paying more attention to what was going on with you, and it absolutely wasn’t fair of me to try to put those kinds of restrictions on you.”

Tears flood my eyes because I’m so relieved. “I had no idea how I was going to make that decision,” I say.

“I never should have asked you to make it.” She hugs me again, but I see her blinking back her own tears. “I hope you can forgive me.”

“Yes,” I say. “Absolutely.” There was never a question.

She takes the pile of flyers out of my hand. “Give me those.”

“Did you actually need them?”

“No,” she smiles. “I just wanted you to see this. Everything that he did.”

“He’s still here?”

Mom points through the crowd, and I can see him near one of the tables of food, talking with someone. He’s in one of those sharp suits that I love, and the way the sun is falling across his face makes him look like something out of a dream. And he is my dream. “Go,” my mom says, but I’m basically already moving.

Edward sees me coming through the crowd, and he looks surprised, but pleased. “What are you doing here?”

“My mom called me.” That’s all I can tell him before my arms are wrapped around his neck and I’m kissing him in a way that’s not quite appropriate in public. And Edward knows it. “Is this okay?” he asks.

“I’ll tell you everything later,” I say, pulling his mouth down to mine. “But yes. It’s great. Everything is perfect. You’re perfect. I love you and we’re not going to hide it anymore.”

He laughs. “I’m far from perfect.”

“Perfect enough for me. And by some miracle you actually got my mom to like you. So if that doesn’t indicate some level of perfection, I don’t know what does.”