Page 37 of Feel the Rhythm

“Where are Amy and Lucas?” I asked.

“Date night,” she replied. “How was your evening?”

“Great,” I answered with a hint of a smile.

She waited for me to say more, but I didn’t have anything I wanted to share. Not yet.

Instead of waiting for her to ask me a question, I changed the subject. “Any progress with the settlement or the bills?”

She shrugged. “You talk to one person on the phone, who sends you to someone else who’s on a lunch break, then they call when you’re picking up your daughter from school and they don’t know what they’re talking about either. It’s a huge runaround. But we’ll figure it out.”

“And Katy’s dance tuition . . . is that adding to the problem?”

She sighed. “I don’t want you worrying about this, Ivy. You’ve done so much for us by moving home and being here for us. You don’t need to take this upon yourself.” She mixed the coconut oil and eggs with a sudden intensity, then set down the whisk and faced me. “Even if Katy’s tuition is difficult, we won’t pull her from dance. It’s not fair for her to not have the same opportunities as you older girls did. You had dance, Hazel had art, Luna had flute. Katy loves dance, and she deserves to have something she enjoys, even if it’s difficult for us.”

I nodded. “I wasn’t trying to imply that she shouldn’t dance so we could save money. I just want to understand how it fits into the puzzle.”

My mom turned back to her bowl. “It adds a layer of complication, yes. But it’s not something we want to give up. We’ll figure it out.”

I didn’t want to tell her that Lisa was about to raise tuition, making things even more complicated than they already were. If only there was a way to fix everyone’s financial issues.

Pushing all the worries out of my mind, at least for the time being, I forced myself to enjoy baking cookies with my mom and decided to worry about the specifics tomorrow.