After his mother's illness gets worse and she is no longer able to take care of him and his brothers, Kevin steps up to take care of everything and ends up becoming . . .
the woman of the house.
As the days went by, Ma condition continued to worsen.
One morning, before as Tim was about to leave I sat him down for a quick talk.
"Tim, Ma's getting worse and I don't think it's going to be much longer. This tension between us has got to go. Life is to short for us to continue to avoid each other and not be able to get along. Besides, we need for Ma to see us getting along and able to work together so she knows we are all going to be okay when she's gone. I can't stand the thought of her passing away still worried about us. All her preparation for our future without her, preparing me to take over her role, if we can't make this work between us, it was all for naught."
Tim fidgeted in his seat as I talked. When I paused he asked, "So what do you suggest?"
"I've thought a lot about how you treated me at the carnival and it was nice, it was wonderful, and I loved it. I miss that and now I think I want to experience more of that. The more I think about it, you might have been right that night about me wanting to explore my options, maybe I didn't see it then, but now, well..."
I shrugged and paused fit a moment, gathering my thoughts before continuing.
"Look, I got angry at you for inviting Joe over without asking me. I'm sorry for getting angry, but you really should have asked first. Can you forgive me for blowing up at you? And do you promise to try to do better?"
The look on Tim's face told me he was taking what I was saying, to heart. After a moment or two he responded with a little head nod and a quiet, "Yeah."
I reached over and put my hand on top of his on the table. He moved his other hand on top of mine and turned his bottom hand over so that his hands were cupping mine.
"Tim," my voice caught in my throat as I said his name. I was taking a big step with what I was about to say and it wasn't easy.
"Can you do something for me?"
"If it's not impossible, sure."
"Tell Joe I'm open to rescheduling soon."
"Really?"
"Yeah, I guess. I've decided to at least try exploring my options."
That seemed to smooth over the tension between us.
Tim then apologized to me for how he handled the situation in Winonah. He also promised to consider me before trying to do anything like that again.
On the way out the door, he gave me a hug, a light pat on the tush, and complimented the retro style gingham swing dress I had chosen to wear today. Saying I looked like a hot 1950's housewife.
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If only I'd had a pair of white pumps with block heels or a pair of kitten heels to wear instead of being barefooted at that moment.
