Acceptance, The by Bernadette Marie

hands and she pulled her in to hug her. “Mother, he’s gone. We have to wake up tomorrow and keep living. We can’t spend the rest of our lives blaming each other.”
    Her mother sobbed in her ear. “What will we do?”
    “Live, Mother. He’d be very disappointed in us if we stopped living to mourn him.”
    “You’re right.” Her mother stepped back. “I’m sorry we said horrible things to each other.”
    Courtney was sure that was to even the playing field, though Courtney didn’t regret anything she’d said.
    “Go home, Mother. Take a long bath and rest.”
    “I will.” She kissed Courtney on the cheek. “We can finish his room later.”
    Finally she was making sense.
    Courtney listened as her mother walk down the steps and shut the front door. She felt the pain of the day drag through her and she sat in the floor and cried. She missed Fitz so much. She could convince her mother to go on and try to be the voice of reason, but in truth would she ever accept the fate they’d all been handed?
     
     

Chapter Thirteen
     
    Tyler had been thinking all day, since he left his aunt’s office. He wanted to celebrate and cook dinner for Courtney. After all, one of his jobs had been as a sous-chef at a family restaurant for a few months. He could pull something together.
    He’d arranged to meet with his cousin tomorrow at lunch and they could begin melding ideas for the gala his aunt would put on to raise money for her organization.
    He was honored that Simone took him into consideration. He felt right about helping others. Tyler smiled as he pushed his cart through the grocery store. There was something in the way that Courtney carried herself, the way she thought, just the way she lived that made Tyler want to be more like her. She had an acceptance about things that had had him driving over to his sister’s house first thing the other night to apologize. And wasn’t he glad he had. On Sunday he’d go back again, this time as an expected guest, though he’d believed that there had always been an extra seat there just in case he was to drop in. This time, however, he’d take Courtney with him.
    The thought made him warm. He’d only known her a few days, but the woman had changed his life already. Just the vision she had, without physically seeing the world, made him see it more clearly.
    Yes, she might have just made him accept everything that he thought was wrong with his life. Thank God, Courtney thought he smelled good enough to drop her scarf.
    Tyler called her around one o’clock and invited her to dinner. He wasn’t sure her voice was very uplifting, but she’d accepted his invitation and that, he thought, had made her sound a little happier.
    As he disconnected the phone call he thought about her. Six o’clock just wasn’t going to get here fast enough. He wanted to see her. Be with her. Oh, and the urge to kiss her was weighing big time on his mind.
    He put away his groceries and looked up a recipe for something with chicken on the computer. If he’d done that first he wouldn’t just be putting in available ingredients in the search box. Maybe Clara or Avery knew a thing or two about cooking. It would be nice if he didn’t have to think so hard each time he wanted to cook a meal for Courtney.
    Tyler sat back in his chair and just looked at the computer screen. He did want to cook for Courtney. He realized, that even in the few brief times they’d spent together he’d grown closer to her than he had anyone in years.
    He smiled to himself. His mother and father were only together about a year before they married. Avery’s parents had her before they got married. Clara ran off and married Warner in Vegas. Even Ed and Darcy fell in love right after meeting. Could that be what he was feeling? Were the feelings he was having for Courtney deeper than just this acceptance she made him feel?
    Really, did it matter? He liked her. He liked her a lot. As long as they got along and wanted to be with