Underestimated Part 54

"I'm kind of in love with someone else."

"Oh," she said, surprised. "Are you still in love with Drew?"

"I am so in love with Drew that I don't know which way is up, but I am in love with a simple sheriff with a simple life too."

My mom smiled. "Life is a f.u.c.ked up mess, Morgan, but it always seems to find a way to work its self out."

I laughed at her choice of words. I knew I had picked up my foul mouth from her. I just didn't normally say it out loud. It was normally during conversations within in my own mind.

"Tell me about Jason. I like him," I said. She smiled. I could tell that she loved him.

"Jason is a good man and a good father. I wished that you and Justin would have had that."

"I think Justin does have that," I replied.

"Mr. Callaway let me choose anywhere in the world that I wanted to live. He told me to make it count because I was only getting one chance and would be cut off from his wallet. I didn't know where to go or what to do. I'd never even been out of the hills before. A week after our first meeting a man showed up with an envelope.

Do you remember the man that I had left with the day that I told you goodbye?" she asked.

"Yes." Of course I remembered that. I had nightmares about it.

"Mr. Callaway had done some homework himself, and thought that this place would give me a fresh start, and I would be able to run a business here and be able to take care of myself. I loved the pictures and the thought of living on the beach. The problem was, I knew nothing about bookkeeping, taxes, or how to run a business. He hired Jason to work with me for a few months to get me started. He and I stayed in this huge house alone for three months. I think I fell in love with him the first night. Of course I thought he was way out of my league, and I didn't have a chance," she added. I could see how she felt that way. I felt that way about Drew. I didn't think he could love a backyard, hillbilly like me.

"Jason and I had so much fun together those first few weeks. I was upfront and honest with him from the beginning. He knew about you and Justin. I swear if he hadn't been there during my many crying sprees I would have fed myself to the sharks."

"I was so mad when Drew told me that you were married and had a new family. I felt like you forgot us," I sadly told her how I felt.

"Oh, baby," she said hugging me tight. "I have not gone one day without thinking about you both. We even have birthday cake for both of you every year," she said in my hair.

"You do?" I asked, pulling away to look at her.

"Yes, we do. I know it's silly, but I kind of like being silly. It makes me happy."

"I'm happy for you, mom," I said. I was happy for her. This wasn't what I had in mind at all. It wasn't even close. I had planned on coming there for all of ten minutes, giving her a piece of my mind and spinning my tires out of there so fast. I was glad that my plan failed. I was glad that she had Jason and Caroline. I was glad that she was happy.

"Caroline reminds me a lot of me," I said with a smile.

"She reminds me of you every day," my mom a.s.sured me. "She is so smart, sometimes too smart for her own good," she added with a smile. "Guess what she loves," my mom persuaded.

I shrugged my shoulders with a big smile. I was happy. I really was.

"Peanut b.u.t.ter and pickles," she laughed.

I laughed too. That was my favorite food growing up. "I haven't had one of those in years," I said.

"Oh, don't worry. You will, just give it a day or two. How long are you staying?" she asked.

I shrugged again. "I don't have a deadline. I can leave whenever I want. I was supposed to be using this time to figure out what to do with these two difficult men in my life, but so far, I'm still at square one."

She smiled. "I hope it takes you a month," she squealed, happy that I didn't have to leave right away.

Chapter 23.

"Amanda!" Jason yelled for my mom from the deck. We both turned to see him waving us toward the house.

We walked the beach and to the deck hand in hand.

"Someone must have known you were coming,"

Jason said, holding a brown wrapped package for me.

"Drew knew," I said, taking the package. I wondered if I should open it in front of them, but it was small, so I figured it was safe, probably diamond earrings or something.

I smiled when I pulled the black sea gla.s.s, dangling from a sterling silver chain. There was one diamond in the middle. I read his hand written note.

"This was the best day of my life. I love you."

I know I was teary eyed. I couldn't help it. He was doing things that blew my mind lately which made my case even worse. I loved him. That was the bottom line. I loved the twisted b.a.s.t.a.r.d.

"Oh, my G.o.d!" Caroline squealed. "That is black.

Where did you get that?" she asked, excited.

"On the beach in Maine," I replied, handing it to her to see.

She looked at it wide eyed and amazed. "This could have come all the way from Italy."

I smiled. The girl knew her sea gla.s.s.

"Do you hunt sea gla.s.s?" she asked, excited.

"Yeah, I do. I have nine pieces now," I told her.

"Do you want to see mine?" she asked, excited.

"I would love to," I said, letting her take my hand and pull me to her bedroom.

I noticed my mother and Jason's reflection through the gla.s.s as I was being led away. He embraced her, and she wrapped her arms around his neck. It made me happy.

A lot of things were making me happy that day.

I noticed my suitcase on the twin size bed in Caroline's room. I was bunking with her. I know it sounds stupid, but I was giddy, thinking about sleeping in the twin size bed across from my little sister. I felt like we were having a slumber party.

Caroline took a shoe box from the shelf in the closet. I looked around her room while she retrieved it.

What I wouldn't have done for a room like that when I was her age. The walls were pink. The two twin beds had matching pink quilts with dolphins. Her walls were covered with pictures of sea creatures and one of Justin Bieber. That one made me smile.

She sat on the bed beside me and explained to me each and every piece of her sea gla.s.s. She remembered where and when she had found each piece. She even knew what they had probably come from.

"I still haven't found any black though," she said.

"I can't believe you found black. Do you have any idea how rare that is?" she asked.

"Yes, I do. I can't believe I found it either."

"Hey, do you want to go with me in the morning?

I'm getting up at six in the morning to go hunting. My dad said I had to wait until nine because he didn't want to get up that early. I don't want to wait that long. We're going to get a big storm later and right after a storm is the best time.

I'm afraid someone else will walk by and find it before me."

"I would love to get up at six and go with you," I smiled at her. I just loved her to death. She hugged me.

"I think I like having a big sister," she said.

"I think I like having a little sister," I replied. She smiled the biggest smile ever.

Jason grilled burgers on their private deck off from their apartment away from the other guests. Caroline was showing me the sea gla.s.s that she wanted to find yet on her IPad. My mom was in the kitchen making side dishes. I asked her if she wanted help, but I think she was happy to see Caroline and me hitting it off so well. She even sat on my lap as her finger swiped the pages on her handheld computer.

Jason got onto her for not cleaning her plate and then made her get down from walking across the banister with her hands out, balancing herself. I was amused. This was what a real family was supposed to be like, and I hoped to someday have a little girl just like Caroline.

"Want a play a game?" Caroline asked, joining us back at the table.

"Let Morgan eat, Caroline," Jason scolded.

"It's not that kind of game dad. She can eat and talk, can't she?"

I laughed as I grabbed my napkin from being taken away from the wind. I knew too that there was a storm brewing. I could feel it.

"I can talk and eat," I said. I wanted to do whatever this little girl asked me to do.

"Okay, it's called the nosey game," she started to explain.

"No, Caroline," her dad insisted. I took it that he knew exactly what game she wanted to play.

"She can say, Nosey Rosy if she wants to," she exclaimed.

"It's fine," I a.s.sured him. He shook his head.

"Okay. So I ask you a question and you have to answer. If you don't want to answer you just say Nosey Rosy, but I get to pinch your cheeks," she explained.

"Caroline is an expert at making up games to figure people out," my mom said. I didn't mind. I thought it was cute.

"You can go first," she said, ignoring our mother.

"What grade are you in?" I asked.

"I'm going to be in second when school starts.

What is your favorite color?" she asked.

"Pink. What is your favorite subject?" I saw her eyes light up when I said pink. I was sure that it was her favorite color too.

"I hate school, my favorite subject is art. What's your middle name?"

"Joyce, after my grandmother."

Her mouth plopped open. "Mine too, were we named after the same grandma, mom?" She asked, turning to our mother.

"Yes. You were both named after the same sweet lady," she smiled.

"Do you have a boyfriend?" she asked.

"I have a husband," I wasn't about to tell her that I had both. "Do you have a boyfriend?" I countered.

"Nosey Rosy," she giggled. We all laughed, and I pinched her cheeks.

We played the game until Jason said that was enough. The wind was really starting to get strong, and we needed to get things carried into the house.

We ate pie and had coffee later on with the guests in the dining room. The wind was howling, and we could hear the thunder in a distance. It wasn't even close to being time for it to be dark yet, but the storm made it look as if it was ten o'clock at night.

"This is going to be a good one," Caroline said, standing in front of the gla.s.s doors.

"Get away from the gla.s.s, Caroline," Jason demanded.

She was like me. She couldn't stop staring out at the wicked weather. The lighting looked like it would strike the house at any second. The waves were ma.s.sive, coming from an angry sea. The wind whipped through the house like it was trying to carry it off, and the thunder set it all in stone. About ten minutes later the lights flickered and then went out. I was a little scared. Caroline on the other hand was excited. I a.s.sumed she had been through many storms, living that close to the ocean.

"I'll get the generator going," Jason said, excusing himself.

My mom ushered us all into the sitting area, and we played charades with the guests by the dim lit generator lights. I laughed so hard at Caroline. She was quite the little ham and wasn't shy a bit.

The storm had quieted down, and everyone retreated to their rooms. Caroline had her own bathroom, and we both grabbed very quick showers in the dark. The lights still hadn't come on when Caroline and I crawled into our beds.

My mom came in as soon as we were in bed. "Are we reading tonight?" she asked.

"Oh, yeah," Caroline said, grabbing the hardback book from the nightstand between us. "Can we start over, so Morgan knows what's going on?" she asked.

"I guess since we are only on chapter three."

"Okay," she said, sitting up and crossing her legs Indian style. "We have to read three chapters, so Morgan can read too."

My mom smiled and rubbed her back. "Okay," she agreed. Caroline leaned into my mom's chest and began to read. I'm not even sure what she was reading. I was too busy reading into what I was witnessing. I didn't remember my mother ever reading a book to me or my brother.