I was having afternoon Coca-Cola with mum last Friday night when she mentioned her friend, Peter, who I was almost sure was her boyfriend.
Mum looked excited lately, and now that she had someone in his life, I figured he was the reason.
My father passed on when I was truly young, and for a long time, it was just mum and me. We had to learn to do what Mom would have helped with, like checking on the cooling unit and scheduling air conditioner maintenance. Mum said dad was fascinated by the cooling industry, reading to learn more about air conditioners and eventually becoming a cooling representative. She went on about her new friend Peter until the sun went down. We decided to order pizza and have a glass of wine as we settled in for our sleepover. When mum went to the door to get the pizza, I studied the headlines of the primetime news on the muffled television that Springtime would get warmer leading up to summer. The weatherman recommended the public check their air conditioners and other Heating and Air Conditioning units to help with indoor comfort. I pulled out my cellphone and put a reminder to call the cooling company for air conditioner repair. I remember hearing different noises from our mini-split air conditioner. I could smell the pizza from the study room. Mum came back, and I mentioned what the forecaster said about having a cooling tech check on his quality air conditioner. She also recommended the club-based maintenance voice, Alexa, to schedule an appointment with his long-time cooling specialist. I would come over for a sleepover once every month to spend time with mum since I moved out 11 weeks ago.