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He’d beenin lovewith her. Which still blew Ginny’s mind. Outside of her family, nobody had ever loved her. They wanted her and maybe even liked her. Even Spencer, who knew all of her darkest and ugliest secrets, loved her in a different way. This was why she set out rules for herself when it came to the people she hooked up with—she didn’t want attachments. It wasn’t that she was programmed that way; Ginny made the choice not to get emotionally involved with anybody. Especially as a teenager, life was more fun when you lived it one day at a time. She might have been open to something more in college and after, but when her parents split up, Ginny had given up hope.
Their pasts had hurt them both, but instead of dealing with it like adults, Ginny and Gavin were handling this very badly. Ginny would be the first to admit that she could have reacted differently when talking to Gavin. But the frustration had simmered beneath the surface for too long and sheexploded. Not that any of it excused the way Gavin was behaving. He might have grown up physically, but he was still a teenager with his hissy fits and it needed to stop.
To avoid talking about things with Frankie, Ginny didn’t enter this event into Party Central. Besides, she didn’t know if Gavin was going to hire WEW or not. He could be doing this meeting just for the sake of his mother and then nothing would come of it. Instead she worked on her iPad. She was in the middle of sketching out a poster for one of her concepts when her phone buzzed with a series of texts.
Unknown
Friday at 4 is the earliest time we can meet.
Let me know if that works for you. And I’ll let Mom know.
It’s Gavin.
Ginny stared at her phone, hearing his bored voice reciting those texts to her, and she wanted to reply with a string of angry emojis. It was the mention of Juniper that made her hesitate.
Ginny
I’ll be there.
Unknown
Great.
She could sense the sarcasm in that one word, but Ginny chose not to do anything about it. She didn’t even save his number, just let him exist as anunknownperson for a little longer. Instead, she let her mind wander to the last time they saw each other, to sitting at the family table with Juniper, Elijah, Noah and Spencer talking about the past and their lives like nothing had ever happened.
The Rhodes family, and Juniper in particular, had always been so important to Ginny. Not only because of her friendship with Spencer, but because of how welcoming they were of the Thomas family. Juniper was the ultimate mom and Ginny sometimes craved that kind of comfort when her mother was being…well, her mother. Growing up, she saw the stark differences between the two women and often wondered how they could have been best friends when they seemed to have nothing in common.
Elsa Thomas wasn’t perfect, she’d raised her four kids well and she’d given them enough love and affection over the years. But Ginny always felt like something was missing. Looking back on it now, Ginny wondered if her parents were having problems even then and it came out in tiny little ways. Juniper and Elijah were always giggling and touching while her mother and Cyrus did the bare minimum. And when everything fell apart, she saw how fragile her mother had become.
The buzzing of her phone interrupted her thoughts again and Ginny was ready to send a few choice emojis to Gavin when she realized it wasn’t him.
Mom calling…
Blowing out a heavy breath, Ginny grabbed her phone and braced for the call. It was rarely ever anything positive, because her mother was still holding onto the hope that Cyrus would realize his error and come back to her. Ginny and her siblings had spent large amounts of money flying out to see and assure Elsa that her marriage was over and done with. That after ten years, if Cyrus came back, it wouldn’t be for the right reasons. But her mother held on, refusing to give up.
Patience and grace, Gin. Offer your mother patience and grace.
“Hi Amma,” she said, infusing as much positivity into her voice as she could.
“Oh!” Elsa’s laugh came through. “I was expecting to leave you another voicemail.”
“Sorry about that, work’s been a little crazy. I was just thinking about you, actually.”
“Good things, I hope.”
Smiling, Ginny tucked the phone between her ear and shoulder as she reorganized her desk. “Yeah. Was thinking about our summers on Tybee with Juniper and Elijah, and how long you two have been friends.” Silence echoed on the other end of the phone. “Mom?”
“I’m here,” Elsa said, her voice small and tight. “Haven’t spoken to Juniper in a few years.”
“I’m sure she’d be really happy to hear from you.”
“I guess. After your father left, I struggled to keep in touch with people. Juniper tried, but youknowher, she’s so positive and happy and I couldn’t find it in me to pretend like I was okay.”
“You know that Juniper won’t hold that against you, right? You two have been friends most of your lives.”
Elsa released a long-suffering sigh and Ginny knew this was pointless. But now that her mother had brought up the divorce, that was the one thing she would harp on about for the rest of the call. Ginny got it, the divorce had been ugly and Cyrus had taken Elsa to court so he wouldn’t have to give up all his money. Except what he didn’t realize was that his infidelity would cost him. Her mother won the settlement, tons of money and the house the kids grew up in. But she lost the man she considered the love of her life.
Ginny loved her mother and was proud of her for getting out of an unhealthy marriage. But Ginny wished that her mother would get back out there, if not to date, then to at least make some new friends. To find purpose in her life again. Now all Elsa did was call each of her children to lament about her loneliness and lack of joy.
