Waiting for Willa (Big Sky, #3)(2)

“Whatever, Mom,” he says with a giggle. “I need to have a serious conversation with you.”

“Then stop trying to get away from me. We have to leave in three minutes, and you don’t have socks or shoes on.”

My cell phone rings, and I blow out a breath of defeat.

“It’s Nana!” he exclaims, accepting the call. “Hi, Nana. Yeah, I’m ready for school.”

“Little liar,” I mumble as I sweep spilled cereal into my hand and throw it in the trash, then quickly wipe down the countertop and grab my purse. “Socks and shoes, Alex.”

“I know, I’m excited for the weekend, too. I get to go to Miss Hannah’s wedding as Mom’s date. Yep. I got a new suit and everything. Uh-huh. Okay, here’s Mom. Love you, too.”

“Socks and shoes, Alexander,” I instruct him, taking the phone. “Hi, Jean.”

“Hello, darling. I know it’s always hectic in the morning, but I wanted to chat with Alex before the weekend got underway.”

“You never have to apologize for calling,” I reply with a smile. Cary’s parents, Jean and Dan, have been so good to me over the past decade. They invited me into their family with open arms when I married their son, and they’ve been an important part of both Alex’s and my life since Cary passed. We couldn’t love them more. “Is everything okay?”

“Oh, yes, we’re fit as fiddles.”

“How is Arizona?”

“Not as cold as Montana,” Jean says with a laugh, and I mouth “let’s go” to Alex. “Anyway, I love you guys. I was just checking in.”

“We love you too, Nana,” I reply and toss my purse in the backseat next to Alex. “I’ll be sure to call Sunday evening.”

“Bye, Willa.”

“Bye.” I hang up and hurry into the car, make sure Alex is buckled up, and pull away from the house. I still live in the home that Cary and I bought when we found out that I was pregnant with Alex. I love it, but it’s a good fifteen minutes from town, and I usually take my son to school rather than put him on the bus. It’s extra time to chat with him in the mornings.

He’s clearly a morning person.

“Mom! My birthday is only two weeks away.”

“I know. I was there.”

“I have a list of things I want, but there’s really only one thing I need.”

I cock an eyebrow and look at him in the rear-view. His brown hair, which I combed only twenty minutes ago, is already sticking up on the side. His dimples are deep as he smiles, and his brown eyes are full of joy.

“What do you need?”

“A puppy.”

I smirk and pull onto the highway toward town.

“Just hear me out, Mom,” he says. “I’m very responsible.”

“Says the kid who I have to wrestle into clothes five minutes before we leave the house.”

“I like my pajamas,” he says with a shrug. “But other than that, I’m responsible. I do my chores, and I clean my bedroom when you tell me to.”

“You do those things,” I agree.

“So, I’d be the perfect person to have a dog,” he says, his voice pleading. “I’ll make sure he goes outside, and you won’t have to clean up after him or feed him or anything.”

Right. And if I believe that, I’m sure there’s some ocean-front property in Idaho I can invest in.

“A dog is a huge commitment,” I remind him for the third time this week. Not because I’m trying to talk him out of it. No, I’ve already got the puppy picked out, and we will take a special trip on his birthday to pick it up. “If we get one, it will be part of our family for a very long time, Alex. You can’t just decide that you’ve lost interest and move on to something else.”

“I would never do that, Mom,” he says, his voice serious. “A dog is a person that loves you no matter what. And we could train him to go with us to the shop.”

“I don’t want dog hair on the merchandise,” I inform him, not willing to budge on this.

“I can do this. I can be a good dog owner. And, my birthday is the perfect time.”

“We’ll see. I haven’t decided what you’re getting for your birthday. I almost forgot it was coming.”

I glance back to see him roll his eyes. “Whatever. You never forget anything.”

I laugh as I turn into the drop-off line at school. “I love you, Bubba. Have a good day.”

“Can I walk to the shop after school with Pierce?”

Pierce is Alex’s new best friend, and he walks home from school.

“Yes, but you come straight to the shop, you hear me?”

“Yes, ma’am. Bye, Mom!”

He slams the car door shut, and I watch him hurry to the teacher standing by the entrance, then gasp when I see that he’s wearing one white and one yellow sock.

“At least he’s wearing socks,” I mutter as I wave and pull away. “Mother of the year, right here.”

The school is only about four blocks from downtown Cunningham Falls so he won’t have far to walk. I love my town. I was born and raised here, and I always wanted to stay. A glamorous life in some city somewhere was never my dream.

That was Max Hull’s dream, and that’s why it never worked out between us.