Virginia’s eyes narrowed, and it felt like she was reading me.
“And also, Dean stays in that room.” If he ever came back to stay.
“Is it a two-bedroom house?”
I winced. “Three. One is reserved for my sister, unfortunately, so that one’s not available.”
“I see. He can always sleep on the couch or something. The baby needs a room.”
“I’m sure he’d do it too, but I have a feeling his time staying here is done. He’s back in the city busy with something.”
“Oh.” She frowned. “I was hoping to see him.”
“Maybe he needs a break from me.”
“It might just be the town. He’s not a fan of close-knit communities like this.”
“I’ve gathered that. Though I don’t know why. People can be annoying here, but it’s not all bad.”
“Some of them can be more judgmental than helpful. Unfortunately, Shady Acres grew that way over time. I think he’s a little scarred. He’ll be back when he’s feeling better.”
“Or he’ll be back when he’s done with his flavor of the week.” I muttered it, and I instantly felt some of the bitterness I’d been fighting creeping up on me. Virginia’s eyebrows raised, and I turned to her with wide eyes. “Sorry, I shouldn’t have said that.”
“Are you?—”
“I don’t wanna talk about it,” I said. And especially not with his mom of all people. “Dean’s been clear, and he’s been great with helping with pregnancy stuff.”
“But if thereissomething he’s doing, tell me.”
It was tempting to. I hadn’t had a mother figure in so long. And I hadn’t talked with any of my friends in town about most of this. But this was hismom. She would be on Dean’s side.
But I did need to vent. And I had a whole group of women who offered to be there for me.
It was time to take them up on that.
“What if I show you the new collection of sundresses that I got instead? That might make us both feel better.”
“You drive a hard bargain, but I’ll let you get away with it this once.”
“Finally, a girl meeting,” Mollie said as she sat. “I’ve been meaning to get coffee from here since forever.”
I bit my lip as I followed. I’d texted them all, asking to meet up. I didn’t immediately mention Dean in case he reached out and I realized I was simply in my own head. But the silence for two days? I was sure I was losing my mind.
It helped that Virginia was now staying in the guest room. She’d offered to get a hotel since she came into town as a surprise, but I refused to let her do that. At least my house wasn’t silent again.
“Seriously,” Jade added. “We should do this weekly or something. Oh! Or we could do one of those clubs at the library.”
“Yes,” Wren said. “I wanna try the crochet one that’s tomorrow.”
“You wanna learn how to crochet?” Mollie asked.
“I’d like to do something with my hands that I don’t have to beat up my body for,” she replied.
“Grace,” Jade said gently. “Does that sound fun?”
“Um, yeah.” I nodded. “Really fun.”
Jade narrowed her eyes. “Okay, spill. Something’s wrong.”