Jen suddenly looks as startled as I did a moment ago, when Mia asked where Alex was, when I had no idea what to say. She glances over to me, wide-eyed, panicked.Help!her expression says.
I’m still not quick on my feet, but a memory from a book I’ve read, a bittersweet moment, comes to mind. “Your special occasion,” I tell Mia, “is today.”
Mia squeals. “What is it?”
Jen looks just as curious.
“You and Mommy,” I tell her, “are going to take showers, and do your hair, and make yourselves feel like your fanciest, happiest selves; then you’re going to put on your pretty white dresses, come down to the beach, and I’m going to take lots of pictures of you.”
Mia smiles. The girl loves having her photo taken. She loves dressing up. It’s the home-run solution I’d desperately hoped it would be. “Yayyyy!!!”
Mia’s sliding off the stool, sprinting to her room. “Mommy!” she yells. “Hurry up!”
Jen looks over at me and smiles tiredly, gratefully, I think. “That was… a really good save.”
“Same to you,” I tell her.
For a moment, she just looks at me, then, slowly, she standsand reaches for me, clasping my hand. “You and Alex… you’ll figure it out.”
I bite my lip as I fight tears. “I hope so.”
“I know so,” she says, squeezing, then letting go. “I’ll get us ready, you’ll take our photos, then Mia and I are going to spend the day all around Bethany, eating ice cream for lunch and buying crap we don’t need, and hell, I think we’ll get a manicure, while we’re at it. So you two can have the place, okay?”
I smile faintly. “You don’t need to do that. Who knows if we’ll even need it.”
Jen huffs a laugh. “Oh, Thea, you silly woman. You absolutely will. He’s gone for you.”
I watch her cross the living room, then stop just outside the door, turning around to face me. “When I told you, that night at The Bookshop, that I was glad you’re in Mia’s life?”
“Yes?” I say quietly.
“That wasn’t entirely true. Or… it wasn’t the whole truth.” She smiles softly as she says, “I meant to tell you I’m not just glad you’re in Mia’s life. I’m glad you’re in Alex’s life, in my life. And… I hope you will be, for a very long time.”
Jen slips past the door, shutting it quietly.
Leaving me alone in the kitchen, with a sink full of dishes I’m grateful to have to do. While I cry and feel and face it all—what I want, what I’m scared of, what I sense knitting back together inside me, healing what I never even knew was hurt.
CHAPTER 31NOW
August 7, fifth day of “vacation”
Mia and Jen are off on their Bethany adventure, with a promise to come back manicured, stuffed with ice cream, and with new books in tow for Mia from the local bookstore.
While they’ve been gone, I’ve been making some important calls. First to my mother, then to Fern, and now to Lauren.
I’m on the phone with her, walking along the sand, beaming as Lauren yells, “Thea, YES!”
I grin. “You were right about calling her.”
“As usual,” she says smugly.
“YouandAlex were right.”
“Now, why’d you have to go and ruin it for me.”
My smile widens. “It gets even better. Fern didn’t accept my initial proposal to be co-owners.” I bite my lip, shaking with the joy of it, still barely wrapping my head around the truth. “She told me she wants to sell me the store. For an abysmally low price that I’m not going to hold her to.”
“THEA!” Lauren screams, so loud, I have to yank the phone away from my ear. “You! Boss! Ass! Bitch! I’m so proud of you. And I’m so happy for you!”