But Harmon has been especially busy lately, working on a new partnership, and he’s been getting home later and later. So maybe I snuck into his office today at lunch to show him how much I missed him.
Maybe.
He reaches for the button on my pants.
“You know we don’t have time for this,” I say, shoving his hand away.
“It’ll be fast,” he argues.
“We need to eat and leave, or we’re going to be late. In fact, I bet—”
“Knock, knock!” Cammy calls from the doorway.
Harmon gives me one last kiss before pulling away and straightening his tie.
“Oh my god! You’re not even ready yet!” Cammy shouts, staring at me.
“It’ll take me two minutes to get dressed.”
She comes over and shoves me away from the stove. “Go. I’ll finish this. We’re going to have to eat so fast!”
“Then maybe you should have cooked!” I call back.
She mumbles something that I can’t hear, but it makes Harmon laugh.
I go into the room to change into the outfit I picked out this morning. It’s more casual than what Harmon is wearing. I matched my button up to his tie and won’t have a tie. If we both walk into Chrissy’s graduation with suit jackets and ties, we’re going to look like a bunch of lawyers. Besides, that style looks good on him… not so much on me.
Our bedroom is spacious. Not as big as his was in the old house, but bigger than mine. We settled somewhere in the middle with a house that has a lot of space, but not so much that we get lost or don’t know what to do with rooms. Harmon had no issue selling his property, and I didn’t care about leaving the apartment… because he did exactly what he said he would do.
We bought land and built our dream house—okay, my dream house—with an in-law where Cammy and Chrissylive. It’s a short walk from here. I love having our own space but having them close enough. Letting go is difficult, but Harmon loves it. He loves having a family.
“You’re wearing bibs!” Cammy says as she scoops pasta onto three plates. “I have no idea what was going through your head when you decided to make pasta withredsauce for dinner tonight, Cassius.”
“I was thinking it’s quick and easy.”
“And messy!”
Harmon smiles at me from the table, bringing his glass of wine to his lips for a sip. I roll my eyes and take a seat across from him.
“Good thing we don’t have any bibs,” I comment.
“No, but you have these.” She tosses a fabric napkin at me, then nicely hands one to Harmon. He does as asked with zero issue, tucking into the collar of his shirt, while I grumble and complain about it.
Cammy acts like our mother, taking care of all of us all the time, even when we don’t want her to. Going to nursing school has increased that motherly part of her brain because not only is she aware of everything that can go wrong, but she knows how to deal with it. She’s prepared and full of useful medical knowledge.
I keep telling her she needs a boyfriend.
She says she can’t deal with that with nursing school.
I guess she’s right. She is busy all the damn time. I hardly see her.
When we found out she was accepted, I was convinced Harmon did something. He swore to me he hadn’t. It was all her. It’s not that I didn’t think she could do it, but I know how hard it is for people like us to go anywhere. But Cammy did.
And so did Chrissy, because if we don’t leave in ten minutes, we’re going to be late for her high school graduation.
“I am so glad Mom didn’t show up,” Chrissy says as she hugs us.
“I didn’t think she would,” Cammy says. “Sorry.”