We traveled the rest of the way to his mother’s house in silence. When he opened the door to get out of the car, I put my hand on his elbow. I couldn’t let him go without saying what was on my mind.
“You are not a bad person, Tyler.”
I knew that in my bones. I still remembered all the times Clem was trying to convince me otherwise. That he didn’t care about anyone. That I should stop dreaming about him and get on with my life. She turned out right about him not being the one for me, but I knew I was right about what he hid behind his walls.
He shifted in his seat to face me. “Maybe, little Spencer, but I am not a good one either.”
“That’s something you like to tell yourself. Like Clem loves to compare herself to Sylvia.”
“She does that?” he asked surprised.
“All the time,” I said. “That’s why she acted so weird in Boston. She’s scared she won’t bond with the baby, just like Sylvia didn’t bond with her.”
“Bullshit,” he snorted.
“I agree.”
We looked at each other for a few seconds, then a loud knock on Tyler’s window startled me.
Sylvia Hartley was standing next to the car in her designer outfit. Her hair looked like she had just gotten out of a beauty salon. She wore a pearl white dress that covered her knees. I knew she wore high heels before I even got out of the car. She moved pass Tyler and came to kiss me, but she kissed the air around my cheeks.
“Hannah, sweetie. It’s so good to see you.”
“Good to see you too, Mrs. Hartley.” She examined my face with narrowed eyes.
“You look tired. You should sleep more, or you are going to look like a fifty-year-old in your mid-thirties.” Her snarky comment made me feel nostalgic. She hadn’t changed, even though she and Clem were in a better place right now. “Would you like to come in? I saw you two sitting in the car. I figured Tyler with his bad manners wouldn’t invite you in.”
I shot a look at Tyler who was standing behind her. He rolled his whole head along with his eyes. I grinned.
“Thank you, Mrs. Hartley, but I have to go home. I haven’t seen my parents yet. I just came to drop Tyler off.”
“Oh, yes. Your mother must be so excited that you are coming home. Although I have to tell you, I ran into her a few days ago and she was disappointed you weren’t bringing your boyfriend along.” She made a judgmental face.
“Nick is very busy.”
“All doctors are, honey. But he will be here for the wedding, right?”
“Yeah,” I answered even though I had no idea. No one knew when the wedding would take place. How could I invite him?
“Great! I can’t wait to meet him.”
I glanced between her and her son. She still hadn’t acknowledged his presence.
“I really have to go.” I pointed at the car and looked at Tyler. “Have fun on the camping trip.”
“Don’t remind me.”
I got inside the car and shot another look at the two of them through the window. Sylvia continued to ignore her son.
What the hell?
She waved me goodbye while I passed them by. When I looked in the back mirror, I saw her turning to face him. They shared a brief hug, then she walked over to the house. Tyler hesitated. He turned his head in my direction one more time before he followed her inside.
***
Dinner in my house was a thing. My father, the infamous Harry Spencer, always brought work home, but he put it aside every night for exactly one hour to have dinner with his family.
“Tell us about Nick,” my mom said while they ate. I was mostly poking at my food. I ate too much pizza at Clem’s. “How are things going between you two?”
“Good.” I nodded. “We are both preoccupied with work, so we don’t see each other that much.”
Disappointment twisted her face. She wanted something juicier than that.
“And how is work going?” Dad asked. Not that he didn’t care who I was dating, but he wasn’t particularly interested in the matters of the heart.
“Great. I love it,” I said with a lot more passion then when I answered my mother’s question about my relationship with Nick. “I’m still learning, but it’s definitely my thing.”
Being a life coach soothed my soul. It made me feel I was making a difference in people’s lives. I loved being a part of their transformation, watch them bloom into something they never knew they could become.
Technically I was still in training, but my boss trusted me with a few new clients. There was always someone more experienced in the room, to intervene if need be, but I was the leading coach.
“What do you plan to do after that?”
“After what?”
“Is that all you want to do with your life? Dealing with other people’s problems?”
“Isn’t that what you dedicated your whole life to?” I shot back at him. The serious look on his face showed me he was not amused. After a few seconds he nodded.
“Fair enough.”
My father was a lot of things. He was opinionated and honest to the point of hurting your feelings, but he never tried to hide that he too made mistakes every now and again, and he always tried to see the world through my eyes.
He rarely talked about his cases, but I always knew what case he worked on in any particular time. People loved to talk trash about him because of the clients he usually took on. So I had to learn to live with his career choices from a very young age.
I openly expressed my disdain towards his occupation only once in my life. I was sixteen. We were having dinner at home with a colleague of his and his wife. He told them I would become a great lawyer. That I always had more questions to ask in the back of my mind and that I was never afraid of expressing my opinion.
And all of that was true, but the fact he said I could do what he did made me lose it. So, I showed our guest I really wasn’t afraid of expressing my opinion, namely that my father spent his life defending and helping criminals, while I had every intention of doing something good to compensate for everything bad he did. That was the first time he found out I might not like him as a person. That we were fundamentally different.
We had been wary around each other ever since. Especially when we talked about work.
“I watched Amanda in a morning show last week.” Mom broke the silence with a calm and soothing voice. “She’s a badass.”
“A total badass,” I grinned at the fact my mother used the word badass and my boss’s first name like she knew her in person.
Amanda Reed was the most famous and well-paid female coach nowadays. She was a workaholic and a perfectionist which made all her employees’ lives hard most of the time, but it was worth it. Those who managed to keep up with her and stayed around long enough got to learn from the best. She was demanding but she also gave us space to grow.
“She wants me to attend a seminar in November. I will spend an entire week in LA. I could come see you again.”
“You could bring Nick with you,” Mom suggested.
“Relax. You will see him at the wedding,” I repeated the same lie I told Sylvia earlier.
“So it is serious then? If you are bringing him to the wedding?” she asked.
“I guess. Yes. It is serious.”