“It was, but I took it down at school. I don’t like ponytails all the time. Can you learn to do a braid?”
He knew this day would come when he’d have to figure more out. He selfishly thought maybe his mother could do it. Not that he ever imagined anyone other than Adele’s mother would be doing her hair.
But his mother only had boys and short hair herself. She’d never mastered much along those lines.
“I’ll try to watch some videos and teach myself,” he said, knowing his younger brother, Adam, would bust a gut laughing if he witnessed this.
“Thanks, Daddy. You’re the best.”
And it was words like that that made him never give up or throw in the towel. And there had been plenty of times in life when he thought it would happen.
Two hours later, Adele was in bed, stories read and he was just putting his feet up on the ottoman when his phone rang. He reached over for it and saw his mother calling.
“Hi, Mom.”
“Seth. Is Adele in bed for the night?”
“She is.” Which meant his mother had something she wanted to talk about without Adele around. That was never a good sign.
“Good. I can’t get her tomorrow after school. I mean I could if you can’t, but I was thinking of going off the island shopping. There is a dollhouse Adele mentioned she wanted and it might be easier to see if I can get it in Boston. I’d rather do that than give her a bunch of candy for Easter.”
“Let me check my calendar,” he said, glancing at his phone and pulling it up. “Yeah, I can grab her and leave for the day. Not a problem. Easter is still a few weeks away.”
“It is, but you know how hard it is to order and get things on the island. Not everything is timely. The weather is going to be nice so I figured I’d take advantage of it. While I’m there I’m going to meet up with a few friends for lunch too.”
“That’s great. Have a good day,” he said, wondering how long it’d been since he spent any time with a guy having a beer or talking sports, let alone time with a woman. His mother did so much for him with Adele, he hated to ask her to watch her more so he could go on a date.
Not that he didn’t date, because he did now and again, just not very often.
“Do you need me to get anything for Adele while I’m there?”
“She probably needs spring clothes. But we’ve got time, I suppose. She likes to shop and it could be a trip she and I take.”
“You’re doing a great job with her, Seth.”
“I’m trying. I feel like the fish flopping along on the grassy bank knowing the water is right there but I keep heading in the other direction when I get close enough.”
“Parenting isn’t easy. You know that with your father.”
He snorted. The father that was never around when they were kids. The one that put his career above Seth and his brother and was on the road more than home. Then cheated on his mother and decided the West Coast was a better place to be.
His parents had divorced when he was a freshman in high school. He’d gone to see his dad over the summers each year for a few weeks and then got gifts for birthdays and holidays shipped. Phone calls were few and far between.
If there was anything he or Adam needed financially, they got that without question. In his father’s mind, that was his only obligation.
He supposed he should be happy his college had been paid for but then felt in his mind it was the least his absentee cheating father could do for the boys he pretty much wiped from his life.
“I do,” he said. “Adam will never settle down because of it.”
Adam was three years younger at just thirty-three, but he was having too much fun dating and going out with different women all the time. Seth had been different. He wanted the security and stability he never felt he had at home.
But he didn’t think he’d be doing it alone now either.
“He will when the time is right,” his mother said. “Just like you did once and you will again. You aren’t meant to be alone. Some people can handle it, others can’t.”
“Like you could,” he said to his independent mother. She knew what she wanted in life and wasn’t letting any man hold her back. She’d kicked Peter Young out faster than the chubby kid could slip away from a bully that wanted his lunch money.
“I don’t need anyone to take care of me,” his mother said. “I raised you two boys on my own when I was married. Having him gone and just sending money was more peaceful.”
“You never wanted his money either,” he said, laughing. His mother worked for the State and had a good paying job and a great pension. She retired the minute she hit fifty-five and moved into the house that she and his father bought on Amore Island when he was a kid.
A nice summer home they could visit on the weekends. His father hated it, his mother got her way. During the divorce, she got the house in Boston, the house on Amore Island and a ton of child support. His father didn’t have a leg to stand on having been caught red-handed and Seth suspected the divorce was uncontested so that his father could move on to bigger and better things.
His kids weren’t going to hold him back.
“Nope. I got the home I wanted right here. I made a killing on the sale of our home in Boston and it was invested well and the interest is bonus.”
He laughed. “You were always good at making lemonade out of lemons.”
“It’s all about your perspective in life, Seth. You used to do the same thing and you will again when the time is right.”
“If it’s
