Taking Care of Family Pt. 10

"I don't see a problem with that," I rejoined. She gave me a look that ended with rolling her eyes and commenting, "I bet your mom might have something to say about that."

I watched Carrie drive off and closed the door to find my mother standing behind me. "I take it you two made up?" she remarked. I looked at her strangely.

"Why did you go to her house and say those things?" I asked.

Mom looked a little surprised. "Actually, I thought I was going to DJ's house with Kacie, but she went the other way and I found myself following her up to Carrie's front door. Before I could stop her, Kacie was all over Carrie telling her how messed up she was being." As I listened to my mother and reflected on what I knew about my cousin, I began to detect holes in Carrie's description of their conversation and was sure that she had left out some of the juicier things Kacie had said. They were probably irrelevant to the discussion between Carrie and me, but I smiled a little at the thought of what Kacie might have said.

Mom saw me with a distant look and paused until I rejoined her. Her face grew serious. "As you can imagine, I was floored to hear about you and Kacie," she said sternly.

Sensing how her conversation might go, I looked back at her unflinchingly and asked softly, "Mom, do you really want to go there?"

Mom was taken aback and I could see her mind racing to try and figure out what I knew. She quickly recovered and her look softened. "No, I guess not."

I smiled and kissed her cheek. "I love you, Mom."

"I love you, too," she replied automatically. She turned her head slightly to kiss my cheek but instead, found my lips. The resulting kiss was exceptionally short, but electric. Her eyes widened and my mind went into overdrive. "Did she just do that on purpose?" I wondered. Mom turned and hurried back to her bedroom and I was pretty sure it was accidental, but the feeling that passed between us wasn't. I went to bed happy in my heart about being back together with Carrie, but in the back of my mind, I had to wonder if things at home just became much more complicated.