“Everything okay, Annette?”
“Yeah…” I said, then felt bad for lying. “I can’t decide what to wear.”
Mom looked at my closet then, as I had done.
“We could always get you something new,” she said. “Maybe you would feel more open to things if you had a new outfit.”
Talking like that, it was clear she knew I felt some hesitation about all this.
That made me want to open up to her a little more than I had been. I was so tired of bottling everything up. At this point, I felt like all my bottle emotions might just explode out of me and make a terrible mess of things.
“Mom,” I said, prepping to ask what I really wanted to know.
“Hm?” she asked, signaling that she was listening.
Gathering my courage, I asked, “What does it feel like when you find your fated mate?”
Mom smiled at once. “The
