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“That is the sweetest thing,” she said. She couldn’t be happier for her brother that he’d found this in his life.
That her niece was going to have a nice stable home on top of it.
She missed seeing Willow daily, but it’d been almost a year now since Zane moved in with Lily and Willow was in school full time.
“She’s a character and I love every minute of it. But that isn’t why you’re here,” Lily said. “You don’t normally text and say you need to talk. Is everything okay?”
“No,” she said. “I needed someone to talk to. My mother is too far away for this.”
“You’re scaring me,” Lily said. “Sit down.”
“Can I have a glass of wine first? I’d like to tell you before Zane gets here.”
“Okay. Wine means it’s not serious. Or I don’t think so.” Lily moved off and opened a bottle and poured them both a glass.
“Remember Ren Whitney?”
“Yes,” Lily said. “You two dated in high school and in college a bit, right? His parents own Whitney Marina.”
“That’s him. He’s back in town.”
“And that bothers you? I never heard what happened between the two of you.”
“He’s only here for a few months. He’s renting a house while he helps his mother get the marina ready to put up for sale. He works remotely and can be here and still do his job.”
“How do you know all of this?” Lily asked.
“Because he brought his six-month-old son, Max, to my daycare today.”
“Oh,” Lily said. “Did you know he had a child? So he’s here with his wife?”
“No to both. One of the girls took the information last week when I was busy. Yesterday when I was going through everything I noticed the name. It’s Max Wilson. That didn’t stick out. It was Ren’s name as the father. Only his name. No mother listed.”
“Did you ask where she was?”
“No. I asked if he was the only one picking up or dropping Max off when he came in today.”
“That had to be hard,” Lily said. “I’d want to know more.”
“I do want to know more,” she said. “But it wasn’t the time or place. And Ren has always been someone you didn’t push. He’ll say what he wants when he wants, when he’s ready.”
“I didn’t know him well. You were both a year behind me in school,” Lily said.
And Lily always kept to herself on top of it.
Lily, Poppy, and Rose Bloom owned and operated Blossoms. It was a flower shop that was left to her when Lily’s much older husband died. The three sisters had started their own business before that making lotions, candles and soaps. Poppy next created a line of accessories and Rose a line of jewelry.
The three women were multi-millionaires now. She wasn’t sure anyone thought they’d ever be in this position.
When the girls’ mother, who’d been raising them alone, died one night after being hit by a car on the side of the road, the three sisters were left orphans.
Zara remembered this. Her father was retired from the Groton Police Department which covered the town of Mystic. He’d been working the night of the accident.
She hadn’t known the sisters that well, just heard of them.
Lily was eighteen and it was a few weeks before high school graduation. Poppy was two years behind her, Rose behind Poppy.
It had hit home for her. That it could have been her mother. She’d felt for the three girls and wondered what would happen to them.
