“I probably would have continued believing that some people were meant to stay exactly where life had placed them.”
She smiled.
“And now?”
I took her hand.
“Now I think sometimes life changes the plan. That doesn’t automatically make the new plan wrong.”
She leaned toward me.
“Even when it’s complicated?”
“Especially when it’s complicated.”
She kissed me.
The bell above the bookstore door chimed as a customer walked in, and Karen pulled away laughing.
“Go help that customer, Alex.”
“I’m not employed here.”
“You’re dating the owner. That’s practically unpaid employment.”
I sighed dramatically and walked toward the front counter.
She watched me go with a smile.
And I realized that the woman I had first met as my best friend’s mother had become something I never could have predicted.
She was the woman who challenged me, made me laugh, and reminded me that honesty mattered more than appearances.
She was the woman who had rebuilt her life when everything familiar fell apart.
