The weeks slipped by in a flash between work, rehearsals, the kids, and wedding planning. I was grateful when my mom arrived, as she was eager to tie up the few loose ends. Although she questioned our menu choices. I could feel the tugging of priorities. In the days leading up to the wedding, I was pulled more than I expected.

"What are you doing?" Billy asked from the doorway of the kitchen one night as Viv and I frantically made brownies from a box.

"I forgot about the bake sale tomorrow," Viv admitted as she vigorously stirred the batter.

"It was on the calendar; I just missed it until right now," I added.

"Couldn't you just buy something from a bakery?" Billy chuckled.

"No! I will not have those PTO bitches look down on us for not baking," I griped.

"Normally, I would note the language, but in this case, I'm just going to say... I told you so." Billy shrugged.

The buzz of the washer rang out down the hall. "Ah, I'll be right back! Remember, no nuts. I don't want to kill the Oliver boy!"

"Fair," Viv agreed.

"Where are you going now?" Billy asked as I zipped past him.

"Change the laundry. Jackson has his first math test of the semester tomorrow and needs his lucky socks," I called over my shoulder.

"Lucky socks?" Billy murmured in confusion. "Lil, Jackson's been doing his own laundry since he was nine!"

I ignored him and switched over the load to the dryer.

"Hey," Billy's voice was close and hushed as the bathroom door clicked behind him. "You need to stop doing everything."

"I'm not doing everything," I argued as I hit start on the dryer and turned, hoping I could get by him without further discussion.

"Nope," he shot as his arm caught me around my waist, prohibiting my escape. "Lil, stop for a minute."

"I don't want to stop."

"You're doing too much," Billy argued.

"No, I'm not. This is what I want to be doing. I want to make brownies with Viv, and I want to make sure Jackson has his socks."

"Lil, Jackson can do his own laundry," Billy contended, as his voice rose in frustration.

"I know you think they are taking advantage of me, but they aren't. I want Jackson to focus on studying tonight. I want him to know that I'm here to support him. And I want him to know that if he thinks a pair of socks will give him better chances in a class that gives him stress, I'll move heaven and earth to get those socks. Luckily, it just means doing a load of laundry at ten o'clock at night."

"You want to be doing laundry in the middle of the night?" Billy skeptically said.

"Billy, I love them. I'll do laundry every night at this time if that's what they need," I shot at him.

"Lil, we don't have any vegetable oil!" Viv yelled from the kitchen.

"Oh, no! Move!" I shot at Billy.

Stunned by my demand, Billy shuffled out of the way.

"How is it possible that we have eggs and no vegetable oil?" I complained as I looked through the cabinets. "Billy!" I called out.

"I'll go to my mom's and get vegetable oil." He was already halfway to the door when he answered my cry.

"Wait!" I yelled again, causing him to stop dead, and turned back to me.

I met him mid-turn as I crashed into his unexpecting side. He recovered before I toppled us both over. "I love you."

Billy let out a laugh as he met my lips for a quick kiss. "That is abundantly clear," he mused. "I'll be back before you know it."

"Be careful; you're very important," I smiled up at him.

He gazed down at me for a moment. "I needed that," he whispered as he leaned in and kissed me one more time before he turned and headed out the door.

"Is the oven pre-heating?" I asked as I returned to the kitchen.

"Yep," Viv said from her perch on the counter without looking up from her phone.

I sighed and leaned against the counter, thinking about what else I may have forgotten.

"So, can I ask you a question?" Viv tentatively started.

"Yeah," I absently answered as I started on the dishes we had made.

"So, how do you know if you like someone or like someone?"

"Hm, interesting question. I guess it comes down to communication. If someone likes you more than a friend, then they tell you that."

"Is that why you and my dad always say I love you before one of you leaves?"

"Yeah, I guess so. We haven't always been the best communicators. So now, even when we are fighting, we remind each other of our love. It sounds cheesy, I know."

"It really does, but you both seem happy." Viv shrugged.

"Are you worried that James doesn't like you the way you like him?" I asked.

Viv just shrugged again.

"So, here's the thing that I wish someone had told me about love. People always said you'll know when you meet that special someone, which is so abstract it's just annoying."

"Tell me about it," Viv agreed.

"So, if I could go back and talk to me at your age, I'd talk about relationships as a whole. They're confusing; trying to tell who you like as a friend or who you like more is hard even at my age. I have people in my life that I love deeply and consider family, like Uncle Tim. When I was your age, that connection could've easily been confused as something more like I have with your dad. When you love someone that much and are young, it is easy to confuse a loving relationship with more. So, first, I'd say, build a healthy relationship, then define it with the person."

"Okay," Viv sounded lost.

"What do you think of when you think of a healthy relationship?" I asked.

"Why are you asking me?"

"Well, hopefully, you're in one, and even though you're new to this, it doesn't mean that your thoughts don't matter. I'm more than twice your age, and I'm still figuring it out," I smiled.

"I guess." Viv paused for a minute. "I guess James is different because he listens to me and thinks about me."

"Yeah." I tried to focus on the dishes in front of me to avoid making Viv feel nervous.

"Yeah, when he told me he liked me, I was shocked, but he just sat there and waited for me to say something. He forced nothing; he just held my hand and let me babble for a while."

I tried to bite back the beam at the cute story.

"I mean, I knew I felt the same," Viv continued. "I've liked James forever. And little things. He knows what I need before I know. Like, before my math final, he knew I'd forget a pencil and had three ready for me. And at lunch, he always gets extra napkins because he knows I never remember to get any. And, when he took Shelly to the Winter formal, he texted me after to say that he had a terrible time. But pencils and napkins don't mean I'm ready for everything."

"Woah, and it doesn't mean he's ready for everything, either. There's so much more to having a romantic relationship than sex."

"Um, can you not say sex? It feels creepy." Viv shook her head as though she had bitten into a lemon.

"General rule of thumb, if you don't like it when people say sex around you, probably not ready to have sex."

"I know I'm not ready to have sex; trust me. And James isn't ready either."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah, we already talked about it." Viv shrugged. "The sex thing isn't really on my mind."

"So, what's on your mind?"

"I don't know how to be a girlfriend, especially to James. I don't know how to act." Viv flopped back as her head knocked gently on the cabinet behind her.

"Act like yourself."

"Mmhmm, says the person who polled the audience on how to dress for a concert. I used to just be me around him, but now I feel like I have to be like some giggly helpless girl or something."

"Why on earth would you think that? He likes you. You should be you. Although, it could be fun to act like a giggle helpless girl and see how he reacts," I laughed. "That poor boy would probably panic and rush you to the hospital."

"That could be fun, except the hospital part," Viv agreed.

"Look, Viv, I've seen James give you a jar of hot fudge to open for him. He knows you're not helpless, so I'd suggest being you."

"But he's older and wants me to go out with his friends. What if they all think I'm just a kid?"

"First, tell James that you're afraid you'll feel uncomfortable around his friends. If you end up being uncomfortable, you can let him know and have a plan to leave discretely. And, I know right now, a couple of years feels like decades, and there are a lot of differences between ages as you both develop, so it makes sense that you would be nervous. But you are smart and funny, and James really likes you. So, if his friends don't like you, then it's their loss."

"That doesn't help. It still leaves the door of them not liking me, and then they'll turn James against me, and then he'll go back to stupid Shelly, and I'll be the pathetic loser that he slummed with that one time."

"Okay, yes, the 'if they don't like you' is a bit of a shitty parent cliché. But you'll never be a pathetic loser that James slummed with by dating you. And, it may turn out that you end up not being as into him once the newness wears off. There are many reasons things don't work out. But what I know is that James is going to be an important part of your life well after high school."

"Oh, no added pressure there."

"There's no pressure. Whether you guys work out and are a great love or become best friends, I can tell you that both roles are epic. I don't know what I would do without Timmy just as much as I don't know what I'd do without your dad."

Viv sighed and pulled herself off the counter.

"Did I help at all?" I tentatively asked.

"Yeah, actually you did," Viv admitted.

"Well, I'm always here if you ever want me to talk in circles some more," I laughed. "You go to bed. Your dad and I will finish the brownies."

"Are you sure? They're for my bake sale." Viv asked.

"I'm positive. And tell Jackson to go to bed too. He's going to be useless for the test if he falls asleep in the middle of it!"

"Will do," Viv agreed. Then, unexpectedly, Viv added, "for the record, it's not terrible having you around."

"I love you too, Viv." I smiled before she slipped out of the room.

I finished the dishes and headed into the bathroom to fold the laundry. My mind wandered to the last details of the wedding before stalling on annoying work things.

"Hey, beautiful," Billy said from the doorway. "The brownies are in the oven."

"I would've helped," I said as I folded the last t-shirt and plucked up the lucky socks.

"I know, but it looked like you were busy thinking in here. We're a team, right?" He moved closer and let his hand fall to my hips.

"That we are," I smiled up at him.

"So you want to wash lucky socks and make brownies for the evil PTO bake sale?" He teased.

"I do. And I want to fall asleep next to you every night for the rest of my life."

"Every night, how very McCartney of you," he murmured as he dipped his lips for a kiss.

"So, I have an idea," I added.

"Oh boy, I feel like I should find a seat for this," Billy teased.

"Yeah, I wouldn't hate getting off my feet. It's been a busy night," I noted.

In one swift movement, Billy had me cradled in his arms. "Better," he smiled down at me as he made his way to the living room.

"I could have made it to the sofa by myself," I teased.

"But, you didn't have to; just like Viv didn't need to make brownies alone, and Jackson didn't need to wash his own lucky socks. We're a team." He settled me on his lap on the couch. "So, you still want to leave your job," he assessed.

"I do. I've given this a ton of thought, and it just doesn't feel right. I'm not giving the role my full attention, which isn't fair to my team. And I don't want to give it any more attention than I am," I shrugged.

"Lil, you know I'll support you. And, without being offensive, you know we don't need your income. But I want you to be absolutely certain that you are doing this for yourself."

"But I'm not doing this for myself. I'm doing this for the team. You, Jackson, Viv are my team now."

"I get that, and I love that. I'm fighting the urge to be selfish right now. I want to make sure that you aren't giving up what you have worked a lifetime to earn."

"Look, I don't know what will happen in the future. And I may find something that excites me again. I honestly hope I do. I'm not giving up on my professional career. But right now, it's not engaging, and it's not energizing. I have an amazing opportunity to travel with my husband and support my new family. I want to seize that opportunity and enjoy it."

I could see the excitement bubble in Billy's eyes. "Two weeks with the option to extend?" Billy teased.

"Two weeks sabbatical with the option to extend," I agreed as I fell to his shoulder.

"Lily..."

"Mmhmm."

"I don't know what to do right now," Billy murmured.

I pulled away and met his eyes. "What do you mean?"

"I... I suddenly have everything I've ever wanted," Billy admitted. "I don't know what to do now."

"Enjoy it, my love. You just enjoy it." I let my head fall back to his shoulder as he kissed my head.