the right thing to do

 

"Am I being like a horrible Mom?" Nora wanted to know. Actually, she was looking for Christine on advice, but Ting and Tony were the only ones home and they were working on a puzzle. They had decided to give up video games for a month. After all, it was a month for lovers and valentines.

"Possibly," Ting nodded and Tony agreed with her as he found a piece of the puzzle for the yellow bridge. "I thought you liked this guy?"

"Well, I did," Nora shrugged as she hugged herself. "Until I met him."

"Until you met him?" Tony looked at her kind of funny.

"Haven't you ever had that sense about someone? You know, everybody talks about him and says, oh he's perfect for you and then you start to imagine what perfect is..and well, Gage is nowhere near that." She found a piece to add to the bridge too.

"That's never happened to me," Ting looked at her as if maybe she was the weird one.

"Right, you found each other already," she sighed. "I guess when you're young there are just so many windows that open for you and if you don't take them soon enough those windows just lock and no way can you open them."

"You're not that old?" Tony looked at her.

"She's sat in her ways," Ting said as she found another piece and stuck it to where it was needed.

"Sat in my ways?" Nora winced hard. 

"Look, maybe Gage is really listening to you," Tony reminded her that he'd seen them both at the grocery store with his son Alec. "I think he likes how you are with Alec."

He went to make tea after the electric kettle shut off. In a few a minutes, he brought everyone some tea and a tray of leftover Christmas candy. 

Nora wanted to believe Tony as she bit into a chocolate sea salt caramel. 

"See, you need some chocolate," Ting told her not to worry. It was best if she and Gage just kept talking.