OLIVIA

Just as I’m getting into bed, I get an email asking me to come to Lake Lights in the morning. I decide, just before I fall asleep, that I won’t go, but when I wake up curiosity takes hold. I throw on clothes and make my way into the kitchen, expecting to see my mother with her usual cup of tea. But the kitchen is empty and the house is quiet, and I sip my herbal all alone, wishing I had just a little longer in this house.

Inside the reception area of Lake Lights, things look like they did the last time I was here. It was just a few months ago, but it feels like I’m not even the same person. Maybe I’m not. I feel like someone different, someone who has a lot more to look forward to than just a summer internship. There’s no one behind the reception desk, so I try a tentative “Hello.” I hear a thump, and make my way down the hallway. The first two doors are closed but the last door on the right is open, and I stop just outside. I give a light tap on the door before poking my head in.

“Hel—” I stop when I see the woman standing behind the desk, a box in her hands. “Mom?”

She smiles and sets the box on the desk. “Joanie will be fine around here.”

“Wait, what?” I walk into the office and sit down. “What are you doing here?”

“This is my new office.” She puts her hands on her hips and smiles, looking around the little room like it’s the greatest thing she’s ever seen. “I bought Lake Lights.”

“But—you just—I mean—why? Why would you do that?”

She shrugs. “Lake Lights is fifty percent photography. I can do that.”

“And it’s fifty percent not photography.”

“That’s true. I was hoping you could help with that part.” She pulls the cardboard lid off of the box and drops it behind the desk. “Not full time, obviously—you’re still in school. But you can help after school, and then next summer, I was thinking you could work here full time.”

“You want me to work for you?”

“I want you to be happy. So I bought this place so I could stay, so you could stay, and we could both be happy.” She bites her lip and looks nervously at the mess of things around here. “You don’t actually have to work here. I mean, I can hire staff. I’m going to hire staff, anyway. I just thought if you wanted to—”