For a few seconds, nothing happened. Then his shoulders slumped, like something inside him had finally given up. “I lost a contract,” he said, voice low. “A big one. One I told Mom and Dad was basically a sure thing. One that would have carried me for a while.”
Maude didn’t interrupt.
“After that,” he continued. “Everything else started to go sideways. Rent. Credit cards. I’ve been keeping things together with duct tape and optimism.” He let out a shaky laugh. “Turns out optimism doesn’t clear overdrafts.”
“Oh, Robbie,” Maude murmured.
“I didn’t want to tell them,” he said, eyes focused beyond the palm trees beyond the porch. “You know them. Mom would panic. Dad would start trying to fix things. And I didn’t want to be the screw-up again.”
“They want to help,” she said. “It would be a lot worse to have parents who didn’t.”
“True.” He shook his head. “But you don’t know what it’s like to watch your sister glide through life like she’s got some internal compass. For all your weirdness with the computer stuff and video games, you always seemed to know exactly what you were going to do next.”
Maude wanted to hug him. “I promise you, it didn’t always feel that way,” she said. “Life is hard for everyone in different ways.”
“Maybe.” His breath hitched. “I don’t know what I’m doing anymore.”
That was the truth. She could hear it in the way his voice cracked, see it in the way his hands tightened around his cup like he was trying to hold himself together.
Maude couldn’t stand it anymore. She reached for him, pulling him into a hug he didn’t resist. He leaned into her, forehead resting briefly against her shoulder, the smell of coffee and salt air wrapped around them.
“You don’t have to figure anything out today,” she said softly. “You’re here now. You can chill and take a breath. And you can talk to me about any of this.”
“Thanks.” He nodded into her shoulder, wiping his eyes with the heel of his hand. “I didn’t know where else to go.”
“You came to the right place,” Maude said. An idea came to her. She hesitated, then said, “Can I ask you something?”
Robbie nodded. “Sure.”
“If money wasn’t the issue,” she said. “And you didn’t have to explain it to Mom and Dad or anyone else, what would you really want to do?”
He didn’t answer right away and for a moment she thought he might brush the question off and answer with a joke. His way of deflecting.
Instead, his shoulders notched back. “I would make things.”
Maude tilted her head. “You already do.”
“Not like that. Not remodeling and additions,” he said. He rubbed his chin, like he was seeing a vision in his head. “Furniture. Real pieces. Tables, cabinets, benches. Stuff that lasts a lifetime. I’ve always made stuff when I could, but man, if it could be all I did… That would be something. To really focuson it. There are some pieces I’ve been thinking about. I know they’d be amazing.”
Her heart softened. “Since when have you wanted to make furniture?”
“Since always,” he admitted. “I used to help Grandpa in his garage, remember? He had that old workbench with the burned spot from the soldering iron. I swear I learned more in there than I ever did in school.”
Maude nodded. She did remember. The cedar smell. Robbie coming in with sawdust in his hair and a grin that rarely showed up anywhere else.
“I like the quiet of it,” Robbie said, staring into his coffee. “Measuring, cutting, picking out the right wood and the right finish. Ending up with something that will last longer than me.” He gave a small shrug. “Construction pays the bills. Usually. Furniture just…makes sense to me.”
Maude nodded. “So don’t talk about it like it’s some fantasy you’re not allowed to have.”
He snorted. “Easy for you to say.”
“I’m serious,” she said. “You’re not saying you want to quit your job tomorrow and open a showroom. You’re saying you want tostart.”
He glanced at her. “With what money?”
She shrugged. “I could front you enough for some pieces. Enough to show what you can do. I could set up a website for you. You could do one of the art festivals they’re always having around here. See what happens.”
“You’d do that?”
