Page 37 of The Homemaker (The Chain of Lakes #1)

Chapter Thirty-Six

Alice

Moms are like best friends?—

only brutally honest.

“Where did you go?” Mom asks when I return.

“For a walk around the lake. I didn’t know how long you’d be enjoying Vera’s massage chair.”

She twirls her red hair around her finger and grins. “It’s a nice chair.”

I toe off my shoes and grab a glass of water. “So what brings you to Minneapolis?”

“You, of course.”

“You’re here to see me for no particular reason?” I gulp half the glass of water.

“I am. It’s called being a mom. I didn’t stop loving you and wanting to be with you just because you decided to become an adult.”

“What are you talking about?” I set the glass on the counter and sit on the opposite end of the sofa. “I have yet to decide to be an adult. I hear it’s overrated.”

She laughs. “Horribly overrated. I actually have PTO to use, so I took five days to visit my favorite person in the world.”

“But Henry Cavill was busy, so you’re visiting me instead?”

“Exactly.” She tugs the decor pillow out from behind her back and throws it at me.

I catch it and giggle. “I’m honored. And I’m glad you’re here. Had I known, I would have taken some time off. They’ll still probably let me work some half days so we can hang out.”

“Can they be without their homemaker for very long?” She shoots me the hairy eyeball.

“This might be the best job ever. It’s like a job in the theater only there is no standing ovation. I have a costume with an apron, and I wear my hair in a sleek 1950s ponytail.”

“Well, now I want to see your performance.”

I smirk. “I bet you’ll get invited to breakfast or dinner where you can see me in action.”

She sighs. “My daughter, the homemaker. I couldn’t be more proud.” I sense a lot of sarcasm in her tone.

“Well, I have no rent. And I make a lot more than you do, so mock me if you must, but it’s a damn good job.”

Her eyes widen.

“But if I could request that you not overshare every little detail about my life, I’d appreciate it.”

“Sweetie, the car accident is hardly a little detail. And you’re the one who told them you were in a mental hospital. Why did you do that? ”

“Because I like toying with them. Getting a reaction. And I knew they’d be more likely to believe that it was a joke than the truth.”

“You’re a pill, young lady. And I was nervous about seeing the man who called us to come get you the night you had a breakdown. Murphy, right? Have you said anything to him yet?”

I nodded. “Yeah, it’s out in the open, at least between us. But now it’s just weird.”

“How so?”

“Because he’s marrying Blair.”

“So?”

“She doesn’t know about us.”

“I’m sure he doesn’t want her to. So what’s the big deal?”

I take a quick breath, readying the words to spew from my mouth on instinct. Then I let them die in silence because she doesn’t know. The day we talked about it on the phone, I avoided answering her question because she asked it in such an incredulous way.

“Alice?”

I lift my gaze.

Her brow furrows. “You don’t—” She shakes her head slowly.

“I was going to go back to him. For him. But then I fell apart before his eyes, and fate had other plans for me. And for him.”

“You,” she points toward the main house, “love that young woman’s fiancé?”

When she says it like that, it sounds so bad. And maybe it is bad, but I’m not trying to love him.

“Don’t look at me like that. I’m not stealing anyone’s fiancé. But yes, there are unresolved feelings. So I’m just resolving them,” I lie.

“And how exactly are you doing that?”

That is an excellent question.

“First, I’m being a good friend to both of them.

When he wants to vent about things like cake flavors, I listen without interfering.

And when she’s PMSing, I remind him she’s under a lot of stress, and he needs to go easy on her.

I’m basically the glue holding that whole family together.

” No one has to put me on a pedestal. I’m perfectly capable of climbing to the top all by myself.

“Is that so?” Mom narrows her eyes.

“Yes. And I make most of the meals, which means I’ve had ample opportunities to poison her, but I have not.”

She snorts. “Well, that’s a relief. So you actually like her?”

“I mean, I don’t not like her. Of course, when she’s hanging from his neck and suggesting they shower together, I want to kill her, but in an irrational, very temporary sort of way.” I end with a toothy grin.

Mom frowns. “Have you found a therapist here yet?”

“Therapist? No. When I have a weak moment, I AI that shit. I just type in ‘Should I kill my ex-lover’s fiancée?’ and every time, the answer is no. It’s way cheaper than an actual therapist. And usually it takes a while to get into their office. Blair would be dead by then.”

“Alice Yates. What is wrong with you?”

I laugh. “Nothing. I’m just kidding.”

“You have your father’s humor. And that’s not a compliment.”

“Well, he was a homemaker too. And we homemakers don’t get enough social interaction to have anything but a morbid sense of humor.”

“Is that your way of blaming me for the divorce?”

My head jerks backward. “What? No. Of course not. He cheated on you. That’s not your fault.”

She takes a calming breath, shoulders relaxing. “Don’t break up their marriage.”

“They’re not married. And I wouldn’t do that.”

“They’re almost married. In your mind, you need to think of them as married. Understood?”

“Blair is O-for-two in engagements converting to marriages.”

“She’s been dumped twice?” Mom’s face wrinkles with concern.

“She’s the one who has broken off her previous two engagements.”

“Well, don’t you be the one responsible for number three.”

“Did I mention I have a secret lover?” I change the subject before my mother makes me feel any worse about myself.

On cue, she perks up. “A secret lover?”

“Clearly not a secret now, but yes. He coaches lacrosse at the university. His name is Callen, and he’s divorced with two kids.”

“Have you met his kids?”

I shake my head.

“Do you want to?”

“No.”

Her face falls, and I feel her disappointment.

“We’re not there yet. Maybe we’ll never get there. All the more reason to hold off bringing me into his kids’ lives.”

“Do you think you’re afraid of commitment?”

“No. I think Chris died. Murphy is engaged. And Callen has a family. Let’s call it commitment cautious.”

“That’s fair. Is Callen as handsome as Murphy?”

“He’s exactly what you’d expect a lacrosse coach to be. Ruggedly handsome. Although shorter than Murphy. And he doesn’t …” I suck my lower lip in while rethinking my inclination to overshare.

“He doesn’t what?”

I shake my head.

“You can tell me.” She pulls her knees into her chest, gazing at me like a friend, not my mother.

“Callen doesn’t look at me like Murphy does or did.”

“What do you mean? You don’t think he’s as attracted to you?”

I shake my head. “No. It’s not that. Callen looks at me like he wants me, like he’s attracted to me. Murphy looks at me like I’m magical.”

“Magical?”

I can’t help but smile. “Yes. He looks at me with wonder. And sometimes he doesn’t look at me at all because he’s blushing. Handsome but shy. Then other times, he has such confidence it makes me weak in the knees. I think that’s it. He’s unpredictable in the best way possible.”

“You mean was and did. ”

“What?” I squint.

“You mean he was that way. And he did those things. Gave you those looks. In the past.”

My friend is gone, and my mother is back.

“Yeah. Of course, that’s what I meant.”

“Maybe Callen just doesn’t know you well enough. Perhaps if you give him time, he’ll get that wonder in his eyes when he looks at you.”

“Maybe,” I whisper.

Murphy looked at me that way from the first moment he saw me. Maybe he looks at Blair that way, too. He should. He’s marrying her.