Page 102 of Embracing the Beat
MOM: Off to conquer the world again?
MICHAELA: Something like that.
MOM: Be safe, okay? And call me when you land?
MICHAELA: Mom.
MICHAELA: I’m an adult.
MOM: And I’ll always be your mother.
MOM: Even when you’re a hundred. LOL
Will I feel like that with my baby? Something tells me I will. Will Mom be excited about a grandchild? Neither Sawyer nor Lucas has any kids. Nibbling on my lip, I keep all my questions off the screen.
MICHAELA: Ok.
MICHAELA: Love you, Mom.
MOM: Love you too, baby.
She didn’t ask me if West knew. She probably assumes he does. I breathe out a huge sigh. He and I were really good at complicating something that never should have happened.
“Traffic is crazy,” the driver pipes up from the front seat.
“Sorry, what?”
“Traffic.” He motions to the windshield reflecting a busier-than-normal rush hour.
“Don’t worry about it. My flight’s not for a few hours,” I tell him.
The car falls silent again, and another question forces itself to my mind.
Am I making the right choice in leaving?
Maybe not.
But it’s the only one that makes sense.
I may be running away from West, but I’m reclaiming my life.
For the baby. And for me.
