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“I’m not going to lie, honey, I thought you’d want to make it a big thing.” I lift a shoulder and Mom forges on. “I thought there’d be a big party, pink everywhere, and at the very least a cake.”

“I never said I didn’t want a cake.”

“Well.” Mom rolls her lips. “It’s a good thing your father didn’t listen to me, then, isn’t it.”

I love my parents. “Does he ever really listen?”

“No. No, he doesn’t,” Mom teases. “Suppose I was a little lax in his training.”

I giggle, but it’s shallow. Mom smiles.

Mom says, “Honey, I know you miss Holt, but is something else bothering you?”

She always knows. “How do you always know?”

“You’re my baby. You’re a part of me. All I have to do is look at you and I feel it. Your happiness, your sadness. That mixed up feeling in the middle.” She scoots closer, her side now brushing mine. “Do you feel like sharing?”

“I just—” It’s my turn to blow a breath between puffed cheeks. “I feel overwhelmed.”

“With what, honey?”

“All of it?”

Mom gives a low chuckle. “Welcome to getting older.”

“Getting older kinda sucks.”

Mom giggles. “I think I said the same thing.”

“I don’t know what I want to do with my life.”

Mom’s eyes sway to mine. There’s a sheen of wet in them that tells me this conversation isn’t exactly easy for her. She feels my aging in an entirely different way than I feel it.

I snuggle closer and she wraps a comforting arm around me. “Baby, you don’t need to know what you want to do with your life. You’re sixteen.”

“Yeah, but there’s only two more years left of school. I don’t even know if I want to go to college.”

“Then don’t go.”

“Mom.” Her name flatlines on my tongue. “I’ll end up working in a restaurant my whole life if I don’t go to college.”

She gives me a squeeze. “That’s not true, Faye. Besides, even if it were true, that’s honest work.”

“Honest, yeah—but…”

“But what?”

“But I don’t want to struggle my whole life to pay bills.”

“Oh, sweetie.” Mom kisses the top of my head. “Life is a struggle and no matter what you do, the bills will be there. I think the thing most people miss is that life is about so much more than the money we make. Of course, money is important, there’s no denying that. But money is only a fraction of life. Real wealth is measured in time.”

“Time?”

“Yes. The time we have to spend with those we love, doing what we love. That’s true wealth. If you’re a world-class surgeon making all the money you could ever want and need, but you spend your entire life in the operating room while your family lives their life entirely separate from you, and you miss all the big and little life moments—does that feel like wealth to you?”

“No. I think that would be torture.”

“I agree.” Mom sniffles. “We aren’t rolling in money, Faye, but we have a beautiful, comfortable life with all that we need. I am so blessed to have been able to be home with you. To watch you grow into this beautiful young woman you’re growing into. To be there for your falls, and to cheer for your wins.” She gives me another kiss. “Oh, baby, I know life feels really big right now. But I just want you to follow your heart. If you do that, I promise all the pieces of your life’s puzzle will fall into place exactly where they were always meant to be.”