Strawberry Wine (Strawberry Inn Book #2)

Chapter 30

“So you’re just planning on living together for some time until you decide to just move on?”

“Well shit, Mom, sounds like you’re voting against Cody and me right from the start.”

“Sweetie,” she stops for a moment and places her hand on my forearm, “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it that way. For most of your childhood, I always thought you would end up with Cody. I never expected you to get married so young, but it is what it is.”

“Mom…”

“No, please just let me say this and get it out.”

“Okay, I guess.”

“When you ended up moving back home and eventually getting divorced, it was so hard to see you go through that pain. My strong girl was just a shell of herself. If I’m being totally honest, I never thought I’d see you come back from that. You did though. It took a long time, but you eventually moved on and things were good.”

“I’m so happy for you, Blair. I can see that Cody has grown and matured. It is obvious he is not the kid he was before. I’m your mom though. I’m also Hayes’s grandma and I wouldn’t be me if I wasn’t worried. I’m not seeing the two of you need to run off and get married. I just want to make sure that you’re giving this man your heart and the intention is not for some time or for right now.”

“Mom, that isn’t it at all. This time is going to be different. Cody hasn’t just told me that, but I can tell. I feel it in my heart that we’re not going to walk down the same path that we did once before. If this new path includes marriage, I don’t know. I don’t need another piece of paper to define my love for him though.”

“As long as you’re sure.”

“I am. You don’t need to worry about me.”

Mom laughs and hugs me, “Blair, sweetheart, you know as well as I do that the first job of a mother is to be worried at all times. Telling me not to worry is pointless.”

“You’re right, that was a silly thing. I’m so happy, Mom. I feel like things are right where they’re supposed to be.”

“Good, good.” 

This whole time I’ve been thinking it was Cody’s parents that I needed to worry about accepting this new relationship, to hear my mom say the things she did took me by surprise a bit. One thing about my mom is that she’s always been my number one fan. It wasn’t just in sports, but in my personal life as well. Even when I did something wrong, which was plenty, my mom always had my back. She’s still doing that, just having my back and making sure I’m going into this chapter with my head on right. Everybody needs a mom like her.

Spending the time packing and moving took me back to all those times we had to relocate for Cody’s baseball career. There isn’t a single thing about moving that I like. We weren’t able to get the beds and more of the large furniture moved today, but we already had a backup plan just in case. So rather than crawling into my comfortable bed with Cody on our first night in our new place, we’re plopping down on an air mattress, trying not to bounce the other person off.

“I could sleep for the next week,” I yawned once I finally got into a comfortable position.

“You can’t, we have another day of moving tomorrow and you also have to work because you’re the one in charge while Angela is gone.”

“Dammit, Cody, why did you have to ruin my evening?”

He laughed and pulled me into his body closer, “I’m sorry, Bear. I just didn’t want to blow smoke up your ass. I promise by tomorrow night we will be in a real bed and I’ll even rub your feet for you when you get home.”