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"Well good morning, sweetie!"
"Good morning," Sharon replied, greeting her mother with a kiss on the cheek. "Where's dad?" she asked as she got out some cereal and poured herself a bowl.
"Oh, your step-father was on call at the hospital and actually got called in to help out early this morning. I think one of the other nurses called in sick."
"Okay. And are you going in to work at the office also later?"
Her mother smiled. "Nope. I have this weekend off. Do you have any sitting jobs this weekend?"
Sharon frowned briefly as she thought about what she had going on for her this weekend. "No, actually I don't think I have anything planned besides the usual schoolwork."
"Good. How about a girl's day out?"
Sharon smiled. "We haven't done that in ages."
"My thoughts exactly. So what do you say? Are you up to it?"
"Of course! You know you don't have to ask me that one twice," Sharon grinned.
Within an hour, both women were strolling downtown window-shopping. They walked at an easy pace, Sharon's arm linked around her mother's. "How about this store?" Mrs. Werner suggested, pointing to a gift store towards their right.
"Sure. I think I can get some more of my Christmas shopping done while we're here."
"And who else are you shopping for now? I thought you were done."
"Just because I started my shopping early doesn't mean I'm done. I'm just taking full advantage of the fact that Kelly's coming down so I can pack her up with stuff to give to Jan and Ivana for me so I don't have to send those up separately and risk them getting damaged."
"Opportunist."
"I'd like to say practical," Sharon smiled sweetly. They shopped quietly for awhile, her mother going over to look at some holiday cards while Sharon browsed the figurine collections. Sharon picked up one figurine of a girl in a graduation gown and ended up putting that down. 'That's not quite the right gift for Jan…' A little further down the shelf though, she saw that same girl dressed in a doctor's coat and pointing to an eye chart; the patient was a stuffed bunny sitting a little lopsided in the patient chair. Sharon smiled. 'Bingo! All right, another part of her gift is done. What about Ivana though…'
"Sharon? What do you think of this?"
She walked over to where her mother was standing a few feet away, took one look at the object in her mother's hand, and started laughing. Just as quickly, she tried to quiet herself down, noticing how a few of the nearby customers had turned in their direction. "Mom, this is perfect for Ivana! Here, she thinks I've gone all country and rural on her, well I'll just give her a taste of it herself."
Her mother smiled. "My thoughts exactly," she said, placing the goofy-looking, stuffed cow in the basket Sharon was holding. "Nice choice for Jan too," she added with a quick glance at the figurine already inside.
"You know us too well," Sharon kidded.
Her mother shrugged. "It's a mother's job to know all… Or at least we pretend to," she replied as she hugged her daughter. "Have you talked to them lately?" she asked as they separated.
"Well, I talked to Kelly last night for a little bit before I left for the game. I spoke with Ivana the other night to catch up too. Jan and I have been doing more of the whole e-mail thing because we can never quite catch each other on the phone, but it sounds like everyone's doing well for the most part. Anyway, did you find any cards?"
"No, not yet. I think I'll wait until it's a little closer to Thanksgiving before I get those."
"It's only a couple weeks away."
"And I'll hold out until then," she smiled. "Have you finished your shopping for Kelly?"
"Some of it, but I don't think I'll find anything else in here for her."
"All right, let's go pay then. Maybe we'll have some better luck at another store."
"What about you? Have you found stuff for your friends back up north?"
"Not really. I haven't had time to really look."
"Mom, what else are we doing today besides shopping?"
"Don't be sarcastic with me, young lady," she laughed. "I'm looking, trust me. I just haven't found anything yet."
"Do you still talk to them?"
"A few, yes. Others… Well, you know how it is. Difficult times on top of distance often show you who your true friends are."
Sharon silently agreed as she paid for her friends' gifts.
"So are you going to get anything for your friends here?"
"Definitely. At least for Ana and Riley and Vin-"
"And Damon too, right?" her mother interjected quickly.
Sharon felt some heat come on her face. "I'm thinking about it."
"Now tell me, Sharon," she started as they walked out the door. "What's going on with this Damon boy?"
"What do you mean? Nothing's going on."
"Exactly! At the beginning of the school year, it was all about this new boy. Damon was nice, he was funny, he welcomed you and introduced you to his friends, he got you to go to the welcome dance, etc., etc., etc. You're baby-sitting his siblings, his family is great and they seem to really like you. And don't even try to hide and say you're not interested in him anymore because I hear how you talk about him to Kelly."
"Mom!"
"Mother's duty to pry," she smiled.
"You're lucky I love you because otherwise I'd be offended," Sharon laughed. "Really, you sound just like Kelly. Why are you guys so interested in this working out?"
"We just want you to be happy, sweetie. You know, after Patrick and the issues you had with him, you can only imagine the relief your friends and family have when we hear that there's someone more normal that you're interested in."
"Well I certainly appreciate the sentiment, but I'm fine. I like him, I admit that, but I'm still not going to risk my happiness of just settling in and finding people I can hang around with and be happy with because they don't know my drama just to get together with one of those friends."
"Does he like you?"
Sharon laughed. "I am and forever will be oblivious to that unless it's right in my face. You know I'm just hopeless in that regard."
"And I think you're just lying. Surely you have some indication, if not Damon but someone else. What about Vin?"
"Vin's a nice guy, but I'm not interested in him."
"Does he know that? Because he seemed pretty interested in you when he was over the night of your Homecoming dance."
"And how could you tell that?"
"Don't tell me you've lost the ability to notice when a guy won't stop staring at you. His eyes were positively glued to you after you walked in the room. You should have seen the look on your step-father's face."
Sharon laughed again. "Even if that were the case, there's no electricity between us, not like between Damon and I. Vin's just a friend."
"Is Damon single?" her mother asked suddenly.
"Unless he met someone last night after the game or this morning, then yes, he's single."
"So what's holding you back, Sharon?"
"Lack of time due to school and baby-sitting? Common friends? Settling in?"
"Those are just excuses."
"Well, what about the whole I don't want to get hurt again, or have my friendships ruined, or force my family to move again because of a stupid mistake that I make?"
Her mother was silent for awhile. "Have you told anyone here what happened?"
"No," she replied just as quietly. "The past is history. There's no need to bring it up here."
"Haven't people questioned?"
"People ask, but I don't tell them much. I just say there were circumstances and we ended up relocating to here, end of story. They don't need my whole life story."
Mrs. Werner nodded. "I suppose you're right. What matters is that we're here and happy, right?"
"Right," Sharon agreed, pushing painful memories out of her mind as the two walked on.