Page 2 of House of Payne

Even teenage me hadn’t been surprised by the news, although my dad took it hard.

My dad has always been a little too optimistic for his own good, choosing to believe in the silver lining.

His marriage wasn’t any different.

Most people thought my mother was a bad person who left her husband and child, but I wasn’t one of them. I saw she wasn’t fulfilled by her life. She saw time passing around her and had goals she couldn’t accomplish with Dad in the picture.

I’ve never blamed her, and now that I’ve come full-circle and returned to the diner—ground zero for my parents’ marriage—sometimes, I even understand it.

People accused her of seeing someone else, but that wasn’t the case. My parents were together because it was what they were used to. That didn’t mean her leaving didn’t hurt my dad. It was twenty-two years of his life down the drain.

I miss having her around. Her drive and thirst for life always provided a welcoming breath of fresh air in an otherwise monotonous existence.

But I don’t tell her that. She’d just hold it against me and take it as one more notch against my poor dad.

“Have you considered going back to college?” she asks. College has always been something she wanted for me, and at one point, it was something I wanted, too. I’d earned my associate’s degree, but Dad needed so much help here that I’d dropped out to offer my time.

“Mom.” I stress her name, making it clear that I don’t want to talk about it. I’m undecided about the subject and talking about it now will only confuse me more. A part of me thinks I’ll eventually go back to college with years of work experience under my belt and the future laid out before me. The other part of me knows that the longer I put it off, the harder it will be to pick up where I left off.

Not that I can even if I wanted to.

I’m not the same person who packed up her things and returned home without a backward glance. Entering the workforce before I had the chance to learn more about myself and what I want has changed my perspective for good.

I just don’t know if that’s good or bad.

“Okay, okay,” she backs off. “You know I just want what’s best for you. How are things between you and Noah?”

Noah is a safe topic, and I appreciate her navigating to more familiar terrain.

My heart flutters at the sound of my boyfriend’s name, a smile lifting the edge of my lips.

“They’re going really well,” I answer.

Out of everything in my life, he’s going the best. Everything about him is so perfect that thinking about it makes me want to scream. All the ways he makes my life better cheer me up.

I still don’t know how I managed to attract the attention of someone like him, but I’m not going to question it.

Noah is my first boyfriend, and I am lucky to have him. He makes how he feels about me so obvious and spends as much time with me as his schedule allows.

“I’m so happy to hear that!” I can hear my mom’s excitement over the phone.

“He just graduated.”

“That’s good for him. Let him know I’m proud of him.” My mom and Noah have only met a handful of times, but they really hit it off. She doesn’t think I can find someone better.

“I will.”

“Now, when are you coming down here to visit? It’s been too long!” she exclaims. “Florida would look good on you, and we can have some mommy and daughter time at the bar now that you’re legal.”

The thought of lounging by the beach, sipping margaritas, and enjoying quality time with mom has its appeal.

Glancing around the largely empty diner, with its cracked floors, peeling paint, and the faint odor of oil almost makes me want to book a ticket right then.

“A vacationdoessound nice.”

“Then I’ll book you a ticket.”

“I can’t just leave Dad.”