Page 104 of Effortless

Me:Yeah, I got it. You’re right, though. That was terrible.

Cash:Are you okay?

Me:Yeah. I’m just ready to come home.

Cash:I’m ready for you to come home, too. Good news is, your daughter turned out to be a great sidekick while I was at the supplier and Costco and loves Mom’s carbonara. Trotter and Logan found out what Mom was serving and joined us. Then they freaked out and begged Mom for the recipe to put it on the menu.

Me:I can’t believe I’m here and missed all the fun. Trotter’s hilarious to watch eat pasta, isn’t he?

Cash:It’s like he’s been starved all day.

Me:I know. He shovels it in like it’s going to run away from him if he isn’t an inch away from the plate.

Cash:Mom loved it. Nothing outside of her family makes her happier than people enjoying her food.

Me:Brooklyn okay?

Cash:She’s great. Staying at Trotter’s tonight and I’ll pick her up from school tomorrow to take her to the game.

Me:Sounds good.

Cash:You coming home tomorrow?

Me:I hope so. I want to talk to Mom’s doctor. And try to get ahold of Dad, too.

Cash:About that…

Cash:Trotter texted him today, said you needed to talk to him and he replied he hadn’t heard from you in days.

Me:What? That’s not true. I’ve been trying to reach him and haven’t heard back.

Cash:That’s what Trotter told him. I don’t know what’s going on. You didn’t accidentally block him, did you?

Me:No. And if I did, wouldn’t it be him not able to reach me? I’m so confused.

Cash:I’ll figure it out, okay? He mentioned his phone was acting up in London and that his assistant had to take it somewhere to get looked at. Maybe that’s the problem. Try not to worry about that on top of everything else.

Me:I’ll try. What a mess.

Cash:I know it feels that way now but remember I’m here for you. So are Brooklyn, Trotter, Logan, and the rest of my family. We’ll be alongside you to help you through it. And you’ll feel better after you get more details from your mom’s doctor, too.

Me:That’s what is bothering me almost more than the divorce. It’s not like I’ve had illusions that they had a great marriage or anything.

“We’re here,” the driver tells me.

“Oh! Sorry!”

I shoot off a quick text to Cash letting him know that we’ll talk later since I just got to Mom’s house.

“It’s okay. Can you type in the code to get through the gate?”

“Yup. Sorry about that – I was distracted.”

I roll down the window and punch in the code and the gate opens up. She drives through and winds around the long driveway.

“Texting your man?”

“How could you tell?”