Page 29 of Learn Your Lesson

I was trying to discern my confusing emotions when my phone rang, a FaceTime request coming through with my mother’s picture on the screen.

With a sigh and a silent prayer to whatever God there was, I propped my phone against one of the giant candles at the kitchen island and took a seat at the bar, tapping the green button to answer the call. Just like always, I’d been texting my mom and grandmother every day — which meant they were fully updated on my situation.

Updated… but not entirely happy.

“You look tired.”

I flattened my lips but managed a smile. “Hello, Mom. Nice to see you, too.”

“Youdolook tired. Is that man not helping you at all?” Grandma chimed in, poking her head up behind Mom. “Typical.”

“I bet he’s inside his big fancy mansion stuffing his face and watching sportsball,” Mom added with a shake of her head.

“Mr. Perry is probably sleeping,” I chastised them both. “He has practice in the morning and usually gets up early to spend time with Ava before school. And I’ll have you know that he had half his team helping me move, and I didn’t lift a single box.”

My mom and grandma gave each other a look, their lips flat and a little hum of disapproval leaving their chestsat the same time. They had it down now so they were in sync, like a symphony of suspicion.

It wouldn’t matter if a man paved a street of gold for me. In their eyes, he’d still be a man — and therefore, a pest.

It was too easy to see our similarities reflected on my phone screen, from our pale, moonlight skin to the soft, coral pink color of our lips. Where Mom got her father’s rich brown hair, I had the same copper tone as my grandma — though hers would go white if she didn’t dye it now. All three of us had the same thick, dark lashes and wide brown eyes. Grandma’s eyebrows had thinned to be almost non-existent except when she drew them on with liner, but Mom’s were still as thick and bushy as mine. Grandma was petite and thin, but Mom was curvy just like I was, her face round and soft where Grandma’s was hard and angular.

“How was Rummy tonight?” I asked.

“You would know if you wouldn’t have canceled on us,” Grandma said, arching a brow. “We had to ask Genevieve to play.”

Mom shuddered. “Youknowhow I feel about that woman.”

Yes. Yes, I did. In fact, I was pretty sure everyone in their little senior community knew how Mom felt about Genevieve. Something my mother excelled at was wearing her mood on her face like a flashing neon sign. It wasn’t that she or my grandmother never smiled, just that those smiles weren’t always friendly — and if they didn’t care for you, you’d know it.

“Thank you for understanding that I had to unpack tonight,” I said. I stood a bit taller as the words came out, proud of myself for not apologizing. That was usually my go-to.

Grandma hmphed, waving her hand and walking out of the frame as Mom studied my background.

“Looks nice,” she commented. “Have you checked the locks to make sure that man can’t get in when you don’t want him to?”

“Mom,” I groaned, pinching the bridge of my nose. “For the fifteenth time, Mr. Perry is a gentleman and a father. He has been nothing but respectful to me.”

“Mm-hmm, and I’m sure that’s not part of his master plan to get you in his bed.”

My cheeks flamed, and I covered my face with my hands, shaking my head.

“We know better,” Grandma called from somewhere in the small home they shared. “You be careful, Chloe May. The last thing you want is to end up pregnant. You still have that pepper spray Grandma got you, right? And you remember the moves from class?”

“Always go for the groin,” Mom chimed in. “Or if he comes at you from behind, smash his foot with all your might. It only takes—”

“Twenty pounds of pressure to break a bone,” I finished for her on a sigh. “Yes, I know. And yes, I have the pepper spray, Gran, but I’m not going to need to use either. Because Will Perry is anice man, giving me a great job with great pay and a lovely place to live.”

They still didn’t seem sold on the idea, and their glances at each other told me as much. But whattheydidn’t know was that accepting this job meant that I’d be able to do something I’d always wanted to do for them.

Pay off their debt.

It was enough pressure weighing on me as the first woman in our family to go to college. Add in the fact that Mom and Grandma had taken out a heap of loans to ensureI could do so, and there was a layer of guilt on top of that pressure.

It wasn’t from them. They always insisted they weregladto help. What did they need money for, anyway, Grandma would titter. But I saw the stress they tried to hide. I overheard the many conversations in their kitchen when they thought I was asleep, when they were struggling to pay their bills or asking for deferments of the loan payments that kept rolling in.

They had sacrificed so much for me over the years, pulling together to raise me as parents when both their partners had deserted them.

We were a trio. I loved them so fiercely it made my eyes sting when I thought too much about it.