Chapter 27: The Roads We Wished we'd Taken

The early afternoon sun filtered through the blinds, casting narrow lines of light across Lily's kitchen table. It had been a strange few days, marked by a quiet anticipation that felt almost too heavy to carry. Her phone, which had been silent for hours, buzzed again, pulling her out of the stillness. She reached for it, half-expecting another message from Ben or a call from Amy, but when she saw the name on the screen, her heart skipped a beat.

It was her mom.

Lily stared at the screen for a long moment before her thumb finally moved, unlocking the phone. She didn't know why it felt like such a monumental moment. They had spoken briefly on the phone a few weeks ago, exchanging polite pleasantries, but it hadn't been much more than that. Just words thrown across the miles that separated them. The kind of conversation that always left Lily feeling disconnected, as if there was a thin veil between them—one that couldn't be lifted by the most well-meaning attempts at communication.

But this time, there was something different. The message wasn't long, but it was enough to stop Lily's heart from its normal rhythm:

Mom: "I'll be in town tomorrow. Can we meet? It's been too long."

Lily read the message twice, trying to find something else hidden between the lines. A sense of urgency, a plea for understanding—but there was only the simple ask, the straightforward desire to reconnect.

And yet, the simplicity of it made everything feel more complicated. Her mom. It had been over a year since they'd seen each other in person. A year full of moments that had passed without either of them making the effort to bridge the gap. The space between them had grown slowly, steadily, like a crack in a wall that no one bothered to fix until it was too wide to ignore.

Lily set the phone down on the table, her fingers lingering on the screen for a moment. The weight of her mom's request hung in the air, mixing with the unfamiliar feeling of longing that Lily had been pushing away for so long.

She couldn't remember the last time she had felt close to her mom—not really. Their relationship had always been strained, a tangle of misunderstandings, unmet expectations, and words unsaid. It wasn't that Lily didn't love her mother, but somewhere along the way, the connection between them had frayed, the ties of family stretched thin by time, distance, and the steady erosion of their differences.

But still—her mom was reaching out. And maybe, just maybe, it was time to answer.

Lily's thumb hovered over the keyboard as she typed a quick response:

Lily: "Of course. I'd like that."

It wasn't a long message, but it was honest. It was all she could offer for now.

She stared at the screen for a long time after she hit send, wondering if this decision would make everything fall into place—or if it would crack open something that had been buried for far too long.

The next day arrived slowly, the light outside dull with clouds threatening rain. Lily stood in front of her closet, picking through the clothes she hadn't worn in months, looking for something that felt right for a meeting with her mom. She found herself pulling on an old sweater, one she hadn't worn since their last visit. The fabric was soft, comforting, like an old memory, but it also felt like a strange relic of a past she couldn't quite place.

She couldn't shake the feeling that the meeting with her mom would change something. And maybe that was what scared her the most. The idea that after all this time, they might sit down together and realize that the distance between them wasn't just physical—it was emotional. It was the road they hadn't taken, the years of silence and missed opportunities to truly connect.

Her phone buzzed again.

Mom: "I'm here. Are you close?"

Lily swallowed, her heart hammering in her chest.

Lily: "I'll be there soon."

She grabbed her keys and headed out the door, her footsteps feeling heavier than usual as she made her way to the car. The streets were damp from the overnight rain, the world feeling muted under the gray sky. The drive to the café wasn't long, but it felt like every second was dragging, her mind racing with every possible outcome of this meeting. What would they talk about? What would they say when they sat face-to-face?

The café was small, tucked in a corner of the city she hadn't visited in years. It was the kind of place they used to go when Lily was younger, back when her mom would take her out for afternoon treats after school. Those were the days before everything had changed, before Lily had begun to pull away, before the walls between them started to form.

When Lily walked through the door, she spotted her mom immediately. She was sitting at a small table in the corner, looking just as she always had—thin, her hair streaked with silver now, the same pale blue sweater she'd worn when Lily was a teenager draped over her shoulders. She looked up as Lily approached, her face lighting up with an emotion Lily couldn't quite read.

For a moment, neither of them moved. It was as though they were both waiting for something, some unspoken signal to make this feel less strange, less like two people who had drifted apart but were now tentatively trying to rebuild what had been lost.

"Hi," Lily said softly, her voice cracking with the weight of the moment. "It's good to see you."

Her mom stood, hesitated, then hugged her. It was a brief, awkward embrace, but it was there. A flicker of something. Of connection.

"It's been too long, Lily," her mom said, stepping back but still holding on to Lily's hands, her grip tight. "I've missed you."

Lily felt her chest tighten at the words, the familiarity of them mixed with a strange bitterness. She hadn't realized how much she had missed hearing her mom say those words until now. And yet, there was still something that held her back—a hesitation, a wariness that she couldn't quite shake.

They sat down at the table, the quiet of the café around them filling the space between their words. Neither of them seemed sure of where to start.

Lily sipped her coffee slowly, the warm bitterness of it grounding her as she searched for the words. "I've been thinking about you a lot lately," she said after a pause. "About us."

Her mom smiled softly, but there was a sadness in her eyes, one that Lily hadn't seen in a long time. "I know, honey. I've thought about you too. About everything."

Lily's throat tightened at the admission. They had both been thinking about it, but neither had said anything for so long. The distance between them wasn't just a physical space—it was the weight of years of silence, the roads they had not taken, the paths that had splintered in different directions.

"I don't know where to begin," Lily murmured. "There's so much we've never talked about. So much I haven't said."

"I know," her mom said quietly. "And I regret that. I regret not reaching out sooner. I thought I was giving you space, but maybe I was just pushing you further away."

Lily felt the tears threaten at the back of her throat, the rush of emotions she had kept locked away for so long. There was so much hurt, so much confusion, and yet, in this moment, it felt like there was also the possibility of healing. Maybe it wasn't too late. Maybe this was the road they hadn't taken, but it was one they could still choose.

"I don't want to be distant anymore," Lily whispered. "I want to try. I want to try to understand each other again."

Her mom nodded slowly, her eyes softening. "I'd like that too. More than you know."

The words hung in the air, a fragile thread that both of them seemed afraid to fully grasp. There was so much left unsaid, but in that moment, it felt like enough. Enough to start. Enough to take the first step toward something they hadn't thought possible for a long time.

"I've spent so much time wishing things had been different," Lily admitted, her voice trembling. "Wishing I had made different choices, that we'd talked more, that I hadn't pulled away."

Her mom's eyes softened further, and she reached out, her hand resting gently over Lily's. "I've wished that too, for years. I've carried so much guilt, thinking that maybe if I had tried harder, if I had been more patient, things wouldn't have ended up like this."

Lily looked down at their joined hands, the comfort of her mom's touch almost overwhelming in its simplicity. She didn't know if this moment would last, or if they would fall back into the same patterns of silence. But she knew that something had shifted between them. They had reached across the divide, and for the first time in so long, they were both acknowledging the distance they had been too afraid to confront.

"You know, I've thought a lot about the road we didn't take," Lily said, her voice quieter now. "The things we never said. The choices we didn't make. But maybe it's not too late. Maybe there's still time for us."

Her mom squeezed her hand, nodding slowly. "Maybe there is, Lily. Maybe we're just beginning to see the road that's been waiting for us all along."

And for the first time in years, Lily felt like she was standing at the edge of something new. Not just a new chapter in their relationship, but a new way of looking at the past, at the roads they had wished they'd taken. Maybe they couldn't change the past. Maybe they couldn't undo the mistakes, the lost years. But they could still walk the road ahead, together, if they chose to.

And in that moment, Lily realized that the road they wished they'd taken wasn't lost forever. Maybe, just maybe, it was still there, waiting for them to finally step onto it.