Rose put on the kettle, and they sat in her room with the window open to the courtyard and a tin of cookies between them.
“Hugo is studying very hard,” Rose said. “He’ll be a great success someday. I think he worries about how hard you’re working and the money you give him for school. He thinks I don’t know or notice, but I notice everything.”
Jo opened her mouth to speak, but her grandmother wasn’t finished.
She dipped her chin. “Like that brave smile you walked in with. Now, tell me what happened, and why you came to visit tonight.”
Jo hardly knew where to start. “The good news is my campaign is going well.” She shared the details.
“Why, that’s wonderful. I’ve been telling everyone I know. I’m so proud of you.”
The kettle whistled, and Rose got up to pour the tea.
While Rose prepared their tea, Jo told her about the women supplying her beans, and the other women supplying things like canvas shopping bags and mugs. She mentioned the women she was hiring to pack and ship.
They sat down again with their tea and cookies between them.
“So every bean in every bag is grown, roasted, and sealed by a woman’s hands,” Jo said, finishing her report. “I wanted to highlight the invisible work that women in the coffee industry do.”
Rose’s face lit with pride, and she clasped Jo’s hands. “That’s my brave young woman. I always knew you would do great things.”
“And I’m letting go of Blue,” Jo added, biting her lip.
Her grandmother merely nodded. “Tell me about that.”
“He called today from Chicago, and I hung up on him.” Jo stirred her tea and blinked back tears. “He’s gone back to his old life and all the people who love him. And he belongs there. He’s a Chicago man. You should see him watch a Bears game. He yells at the television like they can hear him and wears a jersey that’s falling apart because it’s lucky. Crown Island never stood a chance. Or me.”
“His loss,” Rose said.
“I’m letting him go because I love him. I want him to have the life he really wants, not one he settled for out of grief.”
“That’s awfully magnanimous of you. Are you sure?”
“I finally figured out that’s what loving somebody is. Letting them go.”
“Not fighting for them?”
Jo shook her head. “I’m tired of doing that.”
“I see.” Rose seemed to be mulling over a thought. Finally, she took Jo’s hand. “You’re right. Let him be.”
Jo wiped a tear from her cheek. “That’s it?”
“Did you expect an argument from me?” Rose lifted an eyebrow. “A man you talk into a marriage will resent you for it eventually. I’ve watched your mother drag three of them across the finish line, and not one of them stayed. And this latest one…” She flicked her hand as if that said it all. “You’ve done all you can do.”
“Then why doesn’t it feel like I did the right thing?”
“The heart wants what it wants, chérie.” She took Jo’s hand. “Live your life. You never know what will happen in the future. Who you’ll meet, where you’ll go.”
“So that’s it? That’s your advice?”
“That’s all I have for you.” Rose lifted a shoulder. “In the meantime, look at all you’ve done. You have a business with your name on it that’s expanding—and you’re doing good in the world. Bravo for you. Don’t let some thick-headed man in Chicago make you forget that.”
“I love you so much,” Jo said, throwing her arms around her grandmother and smiling into her silk scarf.
Rose echoed her words and rubbed Jo’s back as she always had. “Life hurts sometimes, but you’ll be fine, kitten. You’ll see. You’re a lioness at heart.”
Jo left feeling lighter and made the last ferry. As she crossed the darkened sea back to Crown Island, she held her grandmother’s words tight in her heart.
