Old Fashioned by Steiner Kandi

Author:Steiner, Kandi
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Kandi Steiner
Published: 2020-03-18T16:00:00+00:00

Sydney

After dinner, everyone helped clear the table, and then we all separated into little groups without really noticing it.

Jordan and his brothers were watching football in the living room with Paige, who I imagined was in hog heaven with so many people around who loved the game like she did. Before he retreated there, Jordan had pulled me to the side, asking if we could talk after I put Paige to bed tonight. My stomach was in knots wondering what it was about, but he assured me it was nothing bad, so I tried to trust him in that.

Jordan’s mom, Laurelei, along with Betty and Ruby Grace were gathered at the dining room table, now filled with the contents of Ruby Grace’s wedding planning binder. They were drinking wine and laughing as they went through last-minute preparations.

Mikey and Kylie were in the backyard, sitting together at a little bonfire they’d made while Mikey played the guitar.

Mallory and I were in the kitchen cleaning up, and we cracked the window so we could hear what Michael was playing. He was actually quite good, and I wondered to myself if he would ever consider making a career from music.

He and Kylie were so young, just nineteen years old, and I smiled from time to time thinking about how everything felt so possible at that age, and yet it also felt like nothing had to be figured out at all — not yet.

When I was nineteen, I was in college, with my eyes set on the future. I envisioned working with athletic teams across the country, learning more about the human body every day, and more importantly — how to keep athletes healthy and on the field or court where they wanted to be.

My stomach sank, as it often did when I thought about what could have been. Then I shrank from guilt, knowing that if it had turned out that way, I wouldn’t have Paige.

I blinked the thoughts away as Mallory handed me a freshly cleaned casserole dish covered in warm soapy suds. I ran it under the cool water from the faucet, rinsing it completely before I set it to dry on a towel we’d laid out on the counter.

“I can handle this, Mallory,” I offered for the second time since we’d started cleaning up the kitchen. “If you want to go help the other ladies with the wedding plans.”

She scoffed, cocking an eyebrow at me before she got to work on the next casserole dish. “I know you don’t know me very well, but trust me when I say wedding planning is nowhere on my list of things I’d like to do in my spare time.”

I chuckled. “Not your cup of tea?”

“Let’s just say the only time I like to get serious about what colors to pick for something is when it comes to dying my hair. At least, it was, until this little gal decided to start blooming and I started thinking about what color to paint her room.”

She patted her stomach with a soapy hand, smiling at me before she was back to work on the dish.

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