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Remy swallowed again, forcing her heart back into her chest. “She didn’t know the real reason you left,” she managed. “I was stubborn. I downplayed it all and pretended I wasn’t hurt. She thought the break-up was mutual.”
He glanced down at their held hands. “She didn’t know I’d hurt you?”
“No, she didn’t know.” Tears filled Remy’s eyes at the deep pain etched into Asher’s features. She’d always only considered her pain. She’d never considered Asher’s, not truly.
He finally looked her way. “I still should have been there when she passed away.”
Instead of finding the impossible words to let him rid his guilt, Remy hugged his arm and dropped her head on his shoulder. She shut her eyes, feeling the tension in the air fade away when he dropped his lips onto the top of her head. And she didn’t make a peep about her no kissing rule.
Chapter 13
The next morning, Remy arrived to work still feeling emotional from last night. With Salem tucked under her arm, she was still pinching herself that this was her life now. The thickness in her throat about spending Damon’s money was slowly fading. Life had kicked her enough, and finally, she began believing that happiness was possible again. Slowly, even with Asher, she felt like last night was a big step forward, and yet clouded things too. She didn’t want to get emotionally involved—and she knew Asher had his hang-ups about relationships too—but she couldn’t help but see things for what they were. Asher was in deep pain. Pain he didn’t deserve.
He’d grown up surrounded by abuse. His mother killed herself. His father, the coward, ran away. When they were together, Remy didn’t think about Asher’s home life very much because he’d always been put together and solid. But maybe he had to be? Maybe all of it had been a front, and when he left it was because he simply couldn’t be strong anymore.
Most of all, maybe he left because he thought he’d hurt her if he stayed. Her heart twisted at the thought. Had he punished himself to protect her from the darkness in his life? It most definitely was the wrong thing to do, but for the first time, she began to understand what drove Asher to leave.
Remy didn’t have it all figured out, but she felt like the pieces of her past were slowly coming together.
With Asher firmly on her mind, she spent the morning attending to new customers and helping a middle-aged lady with eczema pick out cream that would help her irritated skin. Nana’s cream with colloidal oatmeal, evening primrose oil, witch hazel, and sunflower oil were sure to clear things up. Remy had seen that cream work wonders on every type of skin condition out there. Cinnamon incense infused the air throughout the shop. Remy figured an extra punch of protection and personal power wouldn’t hurt, especially if Lars came back into the store today.
The rest of the morning was steady, the tourists flooding in to check out the new store. And just before eleven o’clock, during a lull in business, Remy grabbed her tablet off the counter beside a sleeping Salem and dialed her mother on FaceTime.
Mom answered on the fifth ring. “Remy.” Joni Brennan gave a warm smile that lit up her green eyes, the same light color as Remy’s. But that’s where their likeness stopped. Her mother had a body that, at forty-five years old, looked better than Remy’s. She had the boobs, the curves in all the right places, and knew how to dress to extenuate everything she had. Her mom was also a natural redhead with gorgeous long curls and freckles dusting her nose, where Remy took after the father she never met, being a blonde, and she only got freckles in the summer with her tan. “I’m so happy you called,” Mom added. “I meant to call on the grand opening, but you know…life.” She shrugged.
Yeah, Remy had heard every single excuse in the book. She used to have a hard time accepting her mother’s way of life. She tended to take the sting of rejection personally, but in her twenties, she finally realized Mom was just Mom, forever a selfish wild child. “I wasn’t sure if you’d be awake yet,” Remy said.
“The band got the night off last night,” Mom said, taking a seat on a black leather couch and holding her phone up, showing her face, with a dingy-looking hotel room behind her. “Show’s tonight.”
“Where are you now?”
“I don’t even know anymore,” Mom said with a laugh, glancing back behind her. “Ah, Atlanta.” She peered into the phone again. “Now enough about me. Show me the shop. Let me see what you’ve done.”
“Okay…I hope you like it.” Remy flipped her tablet around and scanned the area before slowly walking around the shop, showing her mother every nook and cranny. “We’ve got the creams here, then the bath salts and candles.”
“Very nice.” Mom’s voice came from the speaker. “I just love it, Remy.”
“It’s all really come together.” Remy did a final sweep, then turned the tablet back onto herself. “The whole gang pitched in to help me get up and running. I’m so proud of what we’ve done.”
“As you should be,” her mother said, pride twinkling in her eyes. “I’m so proud of you. Nana would have been proud too. It’s so nice of Kinsley to lend you the money for the down payment.”
Remy swallowed back the remorse for lying to her mother about how she’d financed the shop. “Thanks, Mom.” She smiled, imaging Nana standing in this store, just bursting with excitement that her gifts could actually help people too. And really that’s all that mattered, because Nana gave Remy this life.
The front door suddenly chimed open, then Kinsley and Peyton entered. “The girls are here, Mom, I gotta go,” Remy said, glancing back at her tablet.
“Hi, girls!” Mom called.
Remy angled the tablet to face them, and Peyton waved. “Hi, Joni.”
“Send us tickets for the next show that’s close,” Kinsley called. “We love those festivals you do.”
“You know I’m good for it,” Mom replied.
Remy turned the iPad back to herself. “Have a good show tonight.”
Mom smiled. “Always do, babe. Love ya.”
“Love you too. Bye.” Remy ended the FaceTime chat and then looked up to see the girls smiling at her.
