And, then he knew how he was going to approach her.
****
Present Day Oh to be sixteen again, Mandy Green, thought as she added her young cousin to her Facebook friends list.
Maybe not sixteen, she amended. Sixteen mostly wasn't a good year. It was the year they'd moved from where she'd grown up her entire life to North Battleford, SK. She'd had no friends in her new high school and no way to meet any. There were at least four strikes against her. She was overweight. She wore thick glasses that were several years out of date. She was short. And she couldn't find stylish clothes that fit her properly.
But, near the end of that horrible school year, her life had turned wonderful. She'd met Kip Turner. The most popular boy in school. The boy she'd had a crush on since the moment she walked into that school. The boy she never thought would talk to her in a million years.
She pushed that out of her mind. She didn't want to remember anything about her teenage years. She was not going to think about the Battlefords years, not right now.
Mandy shook her head and closed her browser window. Next she'd be thinking about love found and lost. Then she'd be waxing romantic. Which didn't help anyone one damn bit. It didn't pay the bills. It didn't get the housework done. And it certainly wasn't raising any children.
In Mandy's case, child, was the correct term. She glanced down the hall. She could see her son's bedroom light still on. She made her way down there. Propping herself on the door frame, she leaned into the room. His attention was on the book he held in his hands.
Giving her a moment of sentimental thought, she moved in and sat on his bed. He barely glanced up at her. She reached out and stroked his hair for a moment, until he pushed her away. Right, she snapped to attention. He was eight now. The man of the house, in his own eyes. He'd gone so far as to proclaim it to her a month ago, shortly after his eight birthday. She'd had to bite her tongue, literally, to keep from laughing. He had been so serious when he'd said it.
With a sigh, Mandy stood again. She kissed his cheek and stroked his hair once more. "Five more minutes, Colton."
"Sure Mom," he said, not taking his eyes away from the book. Small wonders, she thought. Until four months ago, he would barely look at the written word. Then this new series came along, and now she couldn't stop him from reading. At dinner, in the bathroom, instead of watching television.