In much the same way that her mother had been hoping to enjoy having at least one of her little girls home again, Tara would have been lying if she said that she hadn't been eyeing Haley's bedroom ever since they were little girls.
There were technically two stories to their house, but the "second story" was pretty much entirely comprised of the upstairs bedroom. It was really a bonus room—a converted attic that had been finished, insulated, and bridged by a staircase at some point in the early eighties. It had been Haley's room ever since she was old enough to get out of the crib, and over the years Tara had learned to seethe with jealousy over just how cool it was, and how unfair that her little sister got to have it while she was stuck in the stupid dumpy bedroom that was down the hall from her mom.
So it shouldn't have been a surprise that Tara's suggestion of giving her mom a room "all to herself" had been back-loaded with the idea that she would finally get to have the cool bedroom upstairs.
"Oh but honey, think about all of that work." April immediately tut-tutted the idea, "I don't think—"
"I will literally send Haley anything that she wants to keep in her apartment, and I'm already paying for a storage unit downtown." Tara said with a rare sort of insistence, a tone that she used more with wishywashy clients than she would her own mother, "This way I get more space to spread out, and you can have like... a crafts room."
"A crafts room?" April asked with some skepticism, "I don't craft though."
"Then it can be an office!" Tara corrected herself, "Or whatever you want it to be—think of it like a She Shed!"
"I'm not sure I know what that is..."
Tara had started moving things out of her bedroom before getting approval from her mother. And it sounded silly, that a twenty-six year old woman needed approval to do anything in her bedroom. But her mom could be overly sentimental sometimes. Tara knew that if she'd asked before taking action, her mom would have said no outright. But now that all but the big furniture and her clothes had been moved upstairs already, there was at least a chance. If Tara could close the deal.
"A She Shed is a place where you can be... you." Tara put her hands together, the tips of her fingers pointing towards her dear doting mother, "Y'know, it's not like when I was a teenager! I don't need to bug you for rides or go grocery shopping for me. Plus Haley's not around, so it's not like—"
"Tara..." her mother warned
"You know what I mean." Tara looked down the long bridge of her nose and arched her eyebrows, "I'm gonna be living here, sure, but like... you still deserve to feel like you have a place to be yourself. To like... do what you wanna do. Y'know?"
And for whatever reason, Tara's suggestion of room-swapping was not met with an immediate 'no'. No one would have ever accused April of being especially strict on either of her daughters, but her word was always law within the confines of the West household. Tara had fully anticipated her mom's sentimentality towards Haley's precious, unoccupied, untouched living space becoming invaded and even had a backup proposition in mind that would help ease her into the idea of Tara taking the upstairs bedroom.
But when April's pause lasted for longer than thirty seconds, Tara knew that she had much more of an in than she thought that she did.
"I... I wouldn't really know what to do with all this space, honey..." she finally said as she fought a little smile that threatened to form on her lips, "And besides, I think it'd be a little silly to—"
"No! Not silly! Not silly at all!" Tara overcorrected, wrapping her arm around her mother's shoulder as if to literally steer her away from the inherent modesty that threatened to uphold the status quo, "Mama, we're like two whole adults living under the same roof now. You'll always be my mom, but I want you to do stuff for yourself too, y'know?"
"And I'm sure that getting to move into Haley's bedroom has absolutely nothing to do with this idea?" April asked, wry but seemingly not upset at her daughter's ulterior motives, "Right?"
"...I'd be lying if I said that that wasn't a factor..." Tara apologized with a look of playful sheepishness, "But at the same time, you know I'm right. When's the last thing you did literally anything for yourself, mom?"
The little smile between April's cheeks encroached upon just enough ground for Tara to know that she was making progress. Enough progress, at least, to know that she wasn't pushing her mother into anything that she didn't want on some level.
"I guess you're right..." April's lips tugged to the side as she tilted on one wide, child-bearing hip, "And if it's really what you want..."
"I think it'll be best for the both of us." Tara said with a sense of finality, her honed salesperson instincts tingling with the satisfaction of a job well done, "This way, you'll have all the room you need to sit down, spread out, and relax. Y'know?"
With a final surveillance of an already half-empty room, April put her hands moved from her hips to crossed proudly in front of her—as if she too had accomplished something here.
This was going to be the start of a whole new April. She could feel it.
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