“What about yours?”
“Sandy booked me a room at The Nest Box Inn until we can get things figured out. I need to check in and call my parents. I’ll be back later to help with bedtime.”
We haul in all the luggage. Mom is making tea as we stow it away in the guest room. I follow Janey out to the car and stop her before she leaves.
“Thank you,” I cry out, throwing my arms around her tiny body. “You’ve healed a generational wound. I’ll never be able to repay you.”
She squeezes me back. “It was my pleasure. I’m just grateful to be a part of it.”
I wave to her as she leaves and then make my way back inside the cottage. Mom has two teacups sitting on the end table between the mismatched armchairs near the fireplace. Now that we have air conditioning, it’s chilly in the house and I’m glad to have washed the afghans Grandma made. I tug one into my lap and sip the tea Mom made. Sugary sweet just how I like.
“This doesn’t seem real,” Mom says absently, staring at her beautiful acrylic nails that are perfect, just like her. “For so long, I was disgusted by my mother. The boat capsized. They found the wreckage. It was obvious to everyone but her that he’d died. But…”
He didn’t.
Somehow, by the grace of God, he survived.
And my grandparents have been trying to find their way back to each other ever since.
Mom sniffles and she glances over at the fireplace where I’ve decorated it with vintage framed family photos. To honor Grandpa coming back, I put one of my grandparents not long after they met front and center.
“You didn’t know,” I say to her, reaching over to take her hand. “It must’ve been hard on a child.”
She swallows thickly. “It’s the reason I was so eager to run off to go to college in Seattle to get away from her and why I later when to New York instead of coming back here. I needed to escape the never-ending grief.” She squeezes my hand. “I don’t regret that move. It’s how I came to have you.”
Mom doesn’t talk about my father. Ever. It’s another taboo subject in our home. Maybe one day she’ll share that story with me. Maybe not. Regardless, having her my whole life has been more than enough.
“My goodness,” Mom says, releasing a breath of air. “There’s so much to do. So many decisions to make.”
“What’s Ron saying in all this? I thought he’d be here with you.”
She scoffs, a look of bitterness transforming her pretty face. “He’s worried about the business. That’s all he’s talked about since I left to get Daddy.”
It mirrors my past with Denver all too well. I hate that for her.
“A good man goes with you. Makes you the priority,” I tell her, voice choking up. “Elias has been that for me.”
A smile touches her lips. “Are you two a thing now?”
“Yep. It’s scary. Feels so intense.”
Her face falls and she stares into her coffee. “Intense can be good. Intense can bring about wonderful things like a baby girl with big blue eyes and a heart of gold.”
“Ron isn’t intense?”
“Never has been. Unless he’s talking about his company.” She sighs heavily. “I don’t know. It just felt safe with him. When you love someone so deeply like that, it gets messy.”
I wonder if I’m the mess left over from an intense love she once knew.
“I’m going to have to go back,” Mom says after a beat. “All my things are there. My dog. My car.”
I set my teacup down and turn to fully face her. “But you’re coming back, right?”
She nods and my heart swells.
“So, we’re really going to do this?” I ask, grinning. “Become Budgie Bay locals?”
“This place is home to me,” she says fondly. “Even if I took off for a while.”
