“Good morning,” I say genially.
She makes a noise in her throat. “Good morning.”
“What are you doing?” Why does my voice sound so nervous? I’m an adult, for God’s sake.
“I’m waiting up for my daughter who wasn’t in her bed when I woke up a few hours ago.”
I’m immediately concerned. “Why were you up a few hours ago?”
“Thea had a bad dream, you weren’t in the bed, so she came into my room.”
“Oh God,” I exclaim, heartbroken I wasn’t there for Thea. I make a move toward the bedroom.
My mom reaches out and grabs my arm. “She’s fine. I got her back to sleep with no issues.”
“I’m sorry,” I say, feeling awful. The beauty of the night with Dozer quickly recedes from my memory.
“Only thing to be sorry for is if you were having a clandestine rendezvous with that handsome Kellen McCord.”
I blink at her in surprise. “Why would you think that?”
“I don’t think that,” she replies blandly. “But it would probably be too much to get my hopes up that you were at Dozer’s all night.”
I blink again. She hopes I was at Dozer’s? I’m not sure if I like her assuming such things.
Putting my hand to a hip, I say, “You know Dozer and I do hang out, right? That we’ve been known to have late-night chats many times before.”
“True,” she replies, a twinkle in her eye. “But I’ve never known them to last until almost seven a.m. the next day, and I most certainly don’t know that there’d be any reason for a late-night chat to mess up your hair like that, as if you were rolling around in bed all night. And is that a hickey on your—?”
“Mom!” I exclaim, slapping a palm over my neck, then realizing that makes me look guilty, so I immediately drop it.
She grins. “So… did you and Dozer… you know?”
“That’s none of your business.” My tone is standoffish as I move to the small kitchenette to make a cup of coffee.
Following me, Mom leans against the counter, elbow on the granite top. “Come on, JJ. Fess up. Are you and Dozer together? Did it just happen last night, or have you two been hiding something from me?”
Sighing, I turn my gaze from the coffee machine to my mom. “It happened last night.”
“I knew it,” she blurts loudly, but then lowers to a whisper. “I totally knew it would happen.”
Chuckling, I slide a cup under the brewer. “I’m glad you knew it because I had no clue.”
“Well, maybe I didn’t know it would happen,” she admits sheepishly. “But I hoped.”
My head turns her way. “Really?”
“Really,” she replies, putting a hand to my cheek. “They don’t come any better than Dozer.”
When the coffee is done, I slide it to my mom and make myself another. Both cups in hand, we move to the stools on the other side of the small kitchen island.
Once seated, my mom says, “How in the heck did you two even figure out to take it further?”
I’m contemplating my answer, but before I can figure out really how it happened, she’s jabbering. “I mean… you two never once gave any outward indication you were interested in each other as more than friends. You never flirted, you dated other people. Deep conversations… that’s what you two were always about. And lots of laughter, but I never saw anything more than just an enduring friendship.”
I take a sip of coffee. “I think we both had feelings for a very long time but were too afraid to act on them. Too afraid to even talk about them. Neither of us wanted to ruin what we did have because it was strong and good.”
Taking my hand, my mom squeezes. “You are both good people. The very best. You deserve each other, and you deserve more than friendship. Passion and—”
“Okay, stop,” I intervene before she waxes poetic about the beauty of making love.
She grins, and I roll my eyes. One last squeeze to my hand before picking up her cup and bringing it to her lips. “You couldn’t have chosen better than Dozer.”
I think back to when we first met freshman year and how I was immediately attracted to him. He was gorgeous and a little cocky because he had brains and brawn. But Chase was the one who showed interest in me first, and Dozer stayed in the friend category.
“Chase wasn’t the one for you,” my mom says, as if reading my mind.
“I know,” I agree softly. I spent far too long waiting for Chase to commit. To ask me to come to California and be his wife. To put a ring on my finger after I got pregnant.
He might have been free with his words of “I love you,” but his actions showed me quite the opposite. I knew by the time Thea was born that we were over.