Getting It Right (BOOK THREE)

Chapter 41

While Ariana is in the backyard setting up the sprinkler once again, Corey helps his mom prepare tuna macaroni salad for lunch.

"I've been meaning to ask you mom, what do you do as a job?" He asks. Since he's been here he hasn't seen her go to work once or even mention having a job. Maybe she's a stay at home wife that cooks and cleans while the husband brings in the bacon.

His mother turns around and looks at him with sparkling eyes. "Isn't it obvious?" Her arms sweeps the kitchen. "I'm an interior designer."

"Ohhh that makes so much sense now." He says, looking around at the furniture and decorations in the kitchen. Now that she mentions it, everything in the house does have a posh kind of feeling to it. From the marble island in the middle of the kitchen to the candles lining the bathroom upstairs, the house is like something that Martha Stewart would put in a magazine.

"I go to my clients houses and we discuss pricing, style and ideas. But I took off these weeks so I can be with you. My job can cause my schedule to get really tied up and I refused to be working all the time while you're here." She says to him.

Corey wonders what Ariana does while her parents work. With Alonzo barely being home and his mom working so much, Ariana must have a babysitter or do some kind of after school activity.

"You've done a great job here, I wish you could have designed me and dads apartment back in CT. Nothing matches, there are holes in the walls, dead plants, raggedy rugs. It could use some of your touch." Corey pours the boiled macaroni into a bowl.

"Since we're on the subject of careers, what about you? What's are you planning to major in in college?" She asks.

He was hoping this conversation wouldn't come up any time soon, but here it is. "I'm going in undecided. I'm good in all subjects but I don't have a favorite. And other than soccer, I don't have any other hobbies. So I don't know what to major and minor in."

"What school are you heading to?"

"University of Connecticut...or Brown." He shrugs his shoulders like those options mean nothing to him.

His mother seasons the chicken while keeping an eye on him. "You haven't looked for anything here?"

"No...should I?"

"Yeah, Atlanta has great schools that might be just what you're looking for." She tells him. "What do you want to be?"

Corey only shrugs again, "All I know is that I don't want to be stuck behind some cubicle all day. I want an exciting job that keeps me on my toes, a job that I'll love waking up in the morning for. Most of all I want to be happy and content too."

His mother stops sprinkling pepper in the tuna and looks up at Corey as he twirls a spoon in his hand. "Well it's ok to enter college undecided, you'll find something that suits you. And as far as being happy, life is going to throw you curve balls and road blocks but trust me, you'll get through them."

"I know," He taps the spoon against the bowl rhythmically. "I'm just accustomed to expecting the worst, you know? Life hasn't been peaches and cream for me."

"It gets better, I promise you that." She smiles and points to herself. "Look at me. I went through an abusive relationship and forced marriage and ended up fine. Yeah I head some lows but I also had some highs. You can't let old troubles stop you from moving forward."

Corey nods his head, "Maybe I should major in human resources. I like helping people."

"Do some research, maybe that's your calling."