Safe

-16- Cookies & Rules

Hannah "Birdie" Morrison

I didn't hear about Holt until my dad got home, fuming and tense.  Something was bothering him, Ava smiling at me sympathetically as we listened to him grumble around.

"I'm going to go take this to mom." I announce, gathering the Pyrex dishes filled with warm food in my arms. "Be back in a few!"

Stuffing my feet into my shoes I dart across the lawn that separates my parents house and into the house. Rain soaks into the hoodie I have on giving me a chill as the warm air of the house hits me.

"Mom! Barry!" I call, kicking my shoes off as I balance the food in my arms. "I have warm food!"

"Hey, here let me help." Barry appears in the foyer, arms outstretched for the food that's piled in my arms and I don't hesitate to hand it off. "This looks delicious."

"It is, trust me."

"Moms on the couch." He tells me over his shoulder as he heads to the kitchen.

And sure enough she is, snuggled under a blanket, a hallmark Christmas movie on.

"Hey baby." She says, smiling up at me.

I plant a kiss on her cheek, before I sit down next to her, pulling the blanket across my lap too.

"How's your dad and Ava?" She asks, kissing the top of my head.

"Dad's having a night." I say.

If anyone knows what's going on with my dad it's my mom.

She hums, "how so?"

Shrugging, I explain, "Well, apparently Drew called him while he was finishing up work and said that Holt got beat up. So then dad met Drew and Holt at the hospital and the Lincoln's, they're Holt's foster parents."

"Is he okay?"

I let out a contented sigh as she readjusts us so that her arm is around me.

"Dad said he fractured his ribs and had to get stitches in his head for a cut." I recount the conversation, leaving out the accusations that dad spouted out afterward.

She sucks in a breath from shock, "my god, do they know who did it?"

I shrug my shoulders again. "Dad's got theories but Holt won't say."

She squeezes me tighter into her side, I can hear the steady thumping of her heart within her chest. She smells like clean linen and shampoo, something I try to commit to my memory just in case.

We both get sucked into the movie that's playing. It's just the beginning, the woman going home to a small town after a break up with her fiancé in the city to be with her family for the holidays. She hasn't met the man she's undoubtedly going to fall in love with yet. But it's snowing and beautiful and she's laughing while she meets her old childhood best friend for some coffee.

My mind gets stuck on the idea of best friends. But more specifically, on how you know if your best friend is the kind you marry or the kind you should just stay best friends with, like my parents.

"Can I ask you something?" I say quietly.

"Of course sweetie."

I think of Ty, the other night in his car, his sloppy drunk kiss on the cheek, the endless hours we've sat on my bed doing homework, the millions of basketball games we've played together.

"How did you know that dad was just a friend?" I ask.

I feel her fingers squeeze my arm where they're wrapped around and she lets out a warm sigh. She pats my arm, kissing my hair and I have this urge to deny that this advice is for me. But I know she'll see through it.

"Well I love your dad, very much, you know that." She says. "But we never had that feeling of intimacy. You see how your dad and Ava are, affectionate towards one another. And Barry and I. Your dad and I sure we kissed and we obviously had you but we laughed and high fived and we were very open about finding other people attractive. There wasn't even jealousy, not even the slightest bit." She kisses my head again. "We are really good friends though. I don't know what I'd do without your dad."

Her voice quivers slightly at her last sentence and I hold her a little tighter.

"You're young Birdie, you don't have to find the love of your life right now."

"I know." I agree.

What I'm having a problem with though is figuring out when a friend turns into something more.

The woman in the movie has her arms full of boxes, stumbling her way to her car when a handsome man with a charming smile offers her a hand just as her stack begins to tumble.

We have our leading man now.

"Who are you thinking you like?" My mom asks.

I suck in a breath, hoping she'd let it go. Letting out a nervous laugh I say "I don't know, Ty. Maybe?"

I feel her smile more than anything, the way her breath releases from chest, the slight shift of her muscles.

"He's a sweetheart." She says warmly.

He is. When he's not being one of the guys.

"Just make sure whatever you decide to do is what you want not something you feel pressured to do."

I roll my eyes, I've already been victim to that speech a thousand times. Mostly it comes from dad.

"I know mom."

She laughs. I love the sound of her laugh. I'm not sure if I ever appreciated it until recently. But it's melodic and warm and infectious and I love it.

"I know you know but I'm still your mom and I still have to remind you." She tells me. "It's in the rule book."

"Oh yeah I forgot, right after the one about how dad has to taste test all the cookies, right?"

Her laugh gets louder and I don't stop myself from joining in. 

"Does he still do that?" She asks through her laughter.

"This is dad we're talking about, of course he does."

"It's true, I went over the other day because we ran out of milk." Barry says, carrying two plates of Ava's dinner in his arms. "I went to steal a cookie and every single one had a bite taken out of it. I don't know how you can live with that sort of anarchy."

My mom and I share a look, wondering if Barry realizes he's nearly as bad. Always eating every cookie but the very last one.

Barry places a plate in front of my mom on the coffee table. "Whats so funny?"

He asks it so innocently that it just sends my mom and I laughing harder.

"Nothing baby." She giggles.

Barry shoves a forkful of food in his mouth, dropping like dead weight into a chair. As he chews he points his fork to the tv and says "are they in love yet?"

"They just met." I inform them. "It's a process, you know that."

He scoffs. "Nah, that's bull. I knew I was in love the second I saw your mom. And then again when I met you."

"Aw." My mom hums.

I untangle from her so she can grab her plate. Sitting back against the couch, my heart feels full.

———————

Do you all remember how I was floored that Owen had 11k reads? It has 26k which blows my mind (🤯 <my mind blown). It blew right past Hearts, Scars & Horseshoes and is catching up to Surviving Love.

Sometimes I still can't believe that people actually read what I write and not only that but like it (😳😱🙃☺️). And I know there's authors on here that be like "I get 26k reads in the first hour I post something" and I'm over here like "woohoo 26k in less than a year, CELEBRATE 🙌" but I seriously can't believe ya'll keep coming back. That is ridiculously awesome and I can't tell you how much I appreciate it.