I was having afternoon coffee with mum last Monday evening when she mentioned her friend, Peter, who I was almost sure was her boyfriend.
Mum looked happy lately, and now that she had someone in her 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 dad would have helped with, like checking on the cooling device and scheduling a/c maintenance. Mum said dad was fascinated by the cooling industry, learning to learn more about a/c and eventually becoming a cooling representative. She went on about her new friend Peter until the sunshine 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 muted cable that Spring would get warmer leading up to summer. The weatherman suggested the public check their a/cs and other Heating and Air Conditioning unit to help with indoor comfort. I pulled out my phone and put a reminder to call the cooling business for a/c repair. I remember hearing weird noises from our mini-split a/c. I could smell the pizza from the living room. Mum came back, and I mentioned what the forecaster said about having a cooling tech check on her quality a/c. She also advised the club-based maintenance voice, Alexa, to schedule an appointment with her long-time cooling specialist. I would come over for a sleepover once every month to spend time with mum since I moved out 11 months ago.