On my way home, I got a call from my mom.
She always opened with the same line. “Why are you avoiding my calls?”
It felt good to laugh.
“Because you deliberately call me in the morning when you know that’s the busiest time for me. And we both know you do it on purpose so you can leave a voicemail and get credit for the call.”
“That’s my lunch break at work,” she said with fake indignation. “My boss is very strict with personal phone calls, as you know.”
“I’ve heard she’s a raging tyrant,” I teased. The road up the mountain to my house was dark, so I paid close attention to the edges where an animal could dart out at any time. “You should quit.”
“Then who would run this shitshow? No. It’s better that I stay. No one else could do it the right way.”
Even though she was joking, we both knew there was truth to her words, and she wasn’t the only one in our family who felt that way. When I was in elementary school, she’d developed a software program for use in human resources departments. It had taken off so quickly, I’d grown up as one of “five kids,” where the fifth child was my mother’s growing company.
I’d inherited her entrepreneurial spirit as well as her controlling tendencies, but where she thrived on the cutthroat corporate world, I’d felt suffocated by it. After spending a decade growing my original Chicago bakery concept into a national chain with my parents’ encouragement, I’d finally learned an invaluable lesson. It was okay to choose happiness over corporate success.
“Delegating isn’t a four-letter word, you know,” I told her. “You might at least consider giving Selina more responsibility on the financial side.” My sister was already a VP at the software company my mom owned, but she was desperate to do the financial analysis work she’d gone to business school for. It was hard for Mom to let go and see Selina as a capable businesswoman rather than her little girl.
“Believe it or not, I met with her just this morning and handed over the reins on all the financials. She is officially the CFO of MomTech as of today.”
I grinned at the company nickname my siblings and I had started using years ago. “That’s great news. Congratulations to the both of you. No wonder you called me. You’re probably using it as a distraction to keep from yanking all your files back from Selina’s greedy hands.”
“Hush. I didn’t call to talk about me or your sister. I wanted to see how it’s going there. How are you handling the holiday rush?”
I threw the truck into Park and sat looking out at the frozen branches in the trees in front of my driveway. The bright light from my headlights made everything eerily beautiful. Winter was never this “clean” back in Chicago. It reminded me of a winter wonderland.
“Handling it just fine. We took some of our usual products off the menu and replaced them with the holiday treats. That worked well. The cookie decorating classes were amazing. Even though they made for a long day, it was a nice way to get out and meet people, just like you said. I have my last one this week, but I think I’ll offer it again around Valentine’s Day.”
“You can always hire someone to do that part for you,” she suggested absently. “Spend that time back at the shop filling more orders.”
“Mom,” I barked, trying to get her attention back. “Why would I do that? Do you remember why I left Chicago?”
She sighed. “To break your poor mother’s heart?”
“Mm. Close. To get away from a life that wasn’t making me happy. Working that hard wasn’t making me happy.”
“And are you happy now, kamari mou? So far away from everyone and everything?”
I stepped out of the warmth of the truck and into the starry night. When I turned to walk to the house, I caught a glimpse of the view of the valley past the glass-and-steel house. Lights from town sparkled in the crisp, cold air, and this far above the main thoroughfare, there wasn’t even any road noise. The mountain around me was silent.
I pictured the sweet man I’d met earlier at the bakery. Miller Hobbs. His perfectly tidy clothes and his sad eyes. His radiant smile and sexy blond hair styled just so.
“Yeah, Mom. I think so.”
She paused for a beat. “Sounds like there’s something you’re not saying.”
I laughed as I let myself into the house and turned on the lights. The view was still there, only now it was across the room and through the wall of glass in my living room. “There’s a lot I’m not saying.”
“You know… your sister ran into Clay last week. Said he asked about you.”
I thought of my ex’s habit of showing up when he found himself between relationships. Over the years, there had been several times he’d turned up for a “quickie for old time’s sake.” After saying yes the first time and then seeing the disappointment on his face when I’d left to go to work, I’d sworn off ever doing it again. He may have said it was casual, but he hadn’t meant it.
“I hope he’s well,” I said, meaning it.
“He looked good. It made me wonder if… well, now that you presumably have more time, maybe you could give things with Clay another chance. I’d like to know you had someone there to take care of you. A mother worries, you know.”
I walked through the living room to the wall of windows. The opposite side of the valley was too far away for me to identify a specific building, but I could guess where the lodge was by its proximity to the empty expanse of the ski slopes.
Miller is over there right now.
Was he sleeping? Probably way too early for someone who didn’t work the hours I did. Were they drinking and having fun? Swapping family stories and playing games?
“You don’t need to worry about me, Mom,” I assured her. “I told you I’m happy. I met a cute guy today and made him smile. That made me happy.” I shook myself out of the trance I was in and tried to cover up that mom-bomb with other news. “I also delivered a birthday cake to a woman in a nursing home who turned 100. Can you believe it? And the sweetest little girl was in my kickboxing class tonight with her mom. She was killing it.”
“Go back to the cute guy,” she said, never missing a beat. “And tell me everything.”
“There’s nothing to tell.” Yet. “I promise when there’s something to tell, I’ll let you know.”
She made a tsk sound. “I noticed you said ‘when’ rather than ‘if,’ so I’ll hold you to that.”
After she made a big point of asking me to call on Christmas Eve when all the family would be gathered, we said our goodbyes. I made my way back to the bedroom and stripped down in anticipation of a long, hot shower.
As soon as I stepped under the hard spray, I let the image of Miller flood my mind again.
Even if I didn’t see him again, it felt good to have been so drawn to someone, to have made him smile when he’d been feeling a little blue. This kind of sparked interest was one of the reasons I’d sold my previous business and moved to Colorado the year before. I wanted a life again, time to be someone outside of work, to have friends and lovers, adventure, time at home.
I wondered what it was about Miller Hobbs that had sparked such a reaction in me.