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April so badly wanted to tell her that Carl knew nothing about the project and that it excited her to do this on her own. But she couldn’t tell Georgia about the divorce; even the slightest hint and she would know that something was up. Another reason why April had to play it cool when she asked about Nigel.
Georgia was good at inferring. Her brain pieced things together that even April hadn’t known yet. She was smarter than her mom, that was for sure.
“Dad isn’t really in on this one. He doesn’t know. And I’d prefer to keep it that way for now if that’s alright with you.”
Her daughter nodded. “I can keep a secret.”
The word felt grimy. “Let’s maybe not call it a secret? Let’s call it a surprise.” At least some people liked surprises.
“Sure, whatever floats your boat.”
Nigel walked out with their drinks in hand and set them on the table before going back and grabbing their sandwiches. Just the smell of the ham alone was enough to make April salivate. “Thank you,” she told him as he began to walk away. A part of her wanted to ask him to stay and talk for a while, but she knew that Georgia needed her attention right now.
“So this renovation, it’s going to be more than you thought it would be. But why not just go for it. I took that interior design class in high school. Sure it was only one credit, but I learned a lot. You passed the bar exam. We can figure this out.”
April stopped herself from asking about college. Desperately she wanted to know what happened to make Georgia drop out so quickly.
I will not become my mother,April repeated in her mind over and over to stop herself from digging into her daughter to get the answers to her questions.Just be supportive.
“You would really help me out with this? I mean, it’s not really the beach vacation that I promised you.”
Georgia batted a hand in the air. “That’s fine. Seeing you get all excited about this is making me excited too. I’m just a helping hand for now.”
It gave April butterflies to know that her daughter was ready to help, even though she didn’t see the same vision yet. She wouldn’t have blamed her for wanting to run away from the disaster April had gotten herself into.
But instead of putting her mother down, Georgia simply looked at her and said, “Tell me what we have to do to make this place into something special.”
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
“You set up your own little fort!” Georgia cried out in the living room. “It’s basically camping. You’re camping in a house that you own? We might as well go down to the beach and sleep on the sand if we’re camping.”
April couldn’t stop laughing at all the comments. She certainly raised a spitfire. “Come on, it’s not that bad. It’s just a small air mattress. I asked you if you wanted one at the general store!”
“I didn’t realize we’d have to share a twin-sized one otherwise. That should have been in the description of your little campsite here. I didn’t sign up for this.” Georgia smiled, so April knew she was just joking around. In times of struggle, Georgia was the one to make everyone laugh.
So when the pair was forced to sleep under the blanket tent in the living room, Georgia started up her whole routine and they laughed until their stomachs hurt. “I did get a tent if you’d rather have that. But I’m sure the full-sized air mattress is going to be nicer than the floor or the sand.”
“We’ll see-” Georgia was cut off by her ringtone. It made them both jump at the shock of the volume coming from her purse. She sighed when she picked it up and that told April who it was.
“Hey, Dad,” Georgia said. April could only hear muffled yells from where she stood. The glow of the single lantern lit up her side. “You can’t really… Well, yes but…”
April saw a disappointment in her daughter’s eyes that broke her heart. It was a similar disappointment she faced when her mom told her to go into law instead of doing something with animals. It was hard for her to watch.
At first she thought that she should leave it alone. Carl’s parenting was his own problem. She would work on her relationship with Georgia here, supporting her. And he would voice his dissatisfaction from whatever country he ended up in.
But then she forced herself to look at things from Georgia’s perspective. At that age, she would have loved to have anyone on her side. She wanted someone to come along and tell her mom that she was allowed to pursue her own dreams, her desires.
It was April’s turn to be that person for Georgia.
“Put him on speaker,” April said with a calm authority her daughter had never heard before. “Hi, Carl. It’s me. Georgia is with me safe and sound so you can stop worry-”
“I’m not worried about her being safe right now, I’m worried about her future. How can you just stand there while she quits!”
Georgia looked up at April, worry in her eyes along with a few tears. “I can’t go back there. I’m not going back. You can’t make me. I’m an adult now.”
Carl laughed on the other end of the line. April rubbed her hand along Georgia's arm and mouthed the words ‘I’m sorry.’ “You can’t just quit, honey. You have to go back to school. Just because something gets a little difficult doesn’t mean you can leave. When you commit to doing something, you have to see things through.”
“You’re not listening to me!” Georgia cried out.
