The wheels of the plane go up when it takes off. Just like the first time I left this place, I think to myself – as I leave Oklahoma, as I leave May – that I’ve fallen that much harder, all over again. I think about the fact that I’m never going to be able to clear my head completely when I play. I can’t. There’s still one thing I have to think about when I pick up my stick, always.

Her.

Chapter Forty-Two

Where You’re Meant to Be

May

‘Tell me the story, Mumma.’

My mother laughs, leaning back against the couch and tipping her head over against mine, where it sits on her shoulder. ‘Which one?’

‘The only one.’

‘My dear May. You are all grown up now. You don’t need me to tell you stories.’

‘This one, I do.’

‘Sure.’ Mumma pretends to roll her eyes. My mom is a sweet woman at her core: forgiving, kind, but fierce when it comes to her family, and determined to make sure I stand on my own two feet sooner rather than later. Nevertheless, she won’t ever pass up an opportunity for me to be her little girl again, even for a moment, and I can tell from the quiet smile on her face that she’s glad I’m still asking her to tell me this story. Her story.

I’m glad she’s glad. Selfishly, I just need someone to assure me that somehow, it all works out. Always. No matter how.

‘Once upon a time, a young woman came to America for university from Canada, when she was just four years younger than you are now.’

‘And?’

‘And she met a young man in Oklahoma, where she was going to school. She asked him where she could get a really good double-double around here. He looked at her, laughed, and took her out for coffee. It was not a double-double. And as you know, nothing can top Timmie’s. But it was really delicious. So they got more coffee together. Again, and again, and again, and they fell in love.’

‘Did she fall in love with the coffee, too?’

‘Not as much as she did with the double-double. But she adapted,’ quips Mumma.

‘Good stuff.’

‘Of course. The two of them dated for four years. They had all their best-laid plans straight. A house on his family ranch in Eagle Rock, which he would inherit, their agriculture management degrees in hand, ready to take the family business to the next level. They would have a couple of chickens, some cattle, horses and, best of all, just one child, hopefully a daughter so she could teach her dance …’

‘My deepest apologies, Mumma.’