by Rachel Hanna
Janine laughed. “Sure, sis. Whatever you say.”
As they finished setting the table, everybody started filtering into the house. First Dawson and William, both of whom planted kisses on their respective partners, and then SuAnn, Colleen, Tucker, Meg and Christian. Julie was excited to surprise everyone with another guest.
“Welcome, everyone. I’m always glad to see your smiling faces on Sundays,” Julie said, standing up as if she was presiding over an important meeting. She held up her glass of sweet tea. “In honor of this beautiful Sunday afternoon, I’d like to let you in on a little surprise…”
As soon as she said it, Dixie popped out of the laundry room, a big grin on her face. Simultaneously, everybody descended upon her, giving hugs and kisses on her cheek.
“Y’all make an old girl feel really loved,” Dixie said, once everyone backed up a bit. “Is this what my funeral will be like?”
“Only if you pop up and surprise all of us,” Dawson said, with a wink.
“I’ll give it my best shot,” she responded, winking back at him.
“I’m so glad you’re home, Momma,” William said, putting his arm around her. She buried her face in his chest.
“Me too, darlin’. Me too.”
“Where’s Harry?” Colleen asked.
“Well, Harry is at home nursing a sprained ankle. He stepped off the patio and just rolled it the wrong way this morning. Doc says it’s not broken, but he has to stay off of it for a few days. That man hates to be lazy, so I expect I’ll see him up and about by the time I get home,” she said with a laugh.
“Come sit down and tell us all about your adventures these past few months,” Meg said, patting the chair next to her. Dixie sat down and smiled.
“Okay, but let’s pile our plates high with food first. I haven’t had a home cooked meal in ages!”
As they laughed and passed dishes of food around, Julie swore she could feel her heart literally warming up in her chest. For her whole life, she’d imagined a family like this. Well, maybe not exactly like this, but this was better.
She had everyone in the world that she loved sitting at one table. Dawson, her daughters, her sister, her mother. And Dixie, her extra mother, as she called her. She just never said it around SuAnn because that would’ve been a recipe for disaster.
When she let her mind go back to those years of marriage to Michael, it almost scared her to think of what her life would be like if he hadn’t destroyed their family. At the time, she’d thought it was the worst thing that had ever happened to her, but now she wouldn’t trade this new life for anything.
“So, where’s the first place you and Harry went?” Janine asked as she took a bite of her salad, the loud crunch of cucumber echoing down the table.
“Well, we went to Gulf Shores, Alabama first. Nice area. Beautiful water and white sandy beaches. Then, we made our way over to New Orleans for a few days. What a hoot!”
“You didn’t get on one of those balconies and flash somebody, did you?” William asked, looking at her speculatively.
“As much as I’d love some of those beaded necklaces, I didn’t want to get arrested. Besides, if I took these old girls out of my bra, they’d splat right on the ground!” Dixie roared with laughter as William put his face in his hands.
Julie couldn’t help but laugh too. Dixie had the best sense of humor of anyone she’d ever known. And the filter between her brain and mouth was missing completely.
“I feel your pain,” SuAnn mumbled under her breath.
“Mom, don’t you start too,” Janine said with a chuckle. “We don’t need y’all comparing bosom issues.”
“Bosom?” Meg said, rolling her eyes and laughing. Vivi wiggled beside her in the highchair that Julie kept at her house.
“Anyway… Dixie, tell us more about your trip,” Dawson interjected. Julie smiled at him appreciatively.
“We just had the best time, I tell ya. We went as far west as Vegas, in fact,” she said, looking down at her plate before taking a big bite of her yeast roll.
“Oh yeah? Did you do any gambling?” Colleen asked.
“Just some slots when we first got there. We actually parked the RV and stayed in a fancy shmancy hotel one night. They had a beautiful buffet and this great waterfall thing out front.”
“Sounds very nice, Dixie,” SuAnn said.
“It was. And they had a lovely honeymoon suite with a heart shaped bed and jacuzzi tub. Really helped my sciatica.”
“Honeymoon suite? Why would you stay there? Was that all they had left?” William asked, staring at her.
“No. We, um… we chose it.”
“Sounds like they just needed a little romantic getaway, William,” Janine said, poking him in the side and grinning. “Sounds fabulous to me.”
Julie noticed that Dixie wasn’t looking up, and she seemed nervous. “Are you okay, Dixie? Do you need your medicine?”
Dixie shook her head and looked up slightly. “No, it’s not that.”
“What’s wrong, Mom?”
She sucked in a long breath and blew it out slowly, before reaching into her pocket for something. Julie watched as she slid a gold band on her finger and held it up. Everything seemed to be moving in slow motion as every person around the table realized at once that Dixie had gotten married.
“We got hitched,” she said softly, a reserved look on her face.
“What?” William said. Nobody else spoke or congratulated her, worried that William wasn’t going to react well.
“We got married, son,” she said, finally looking at him. “Harry is now my husband.”
The silence was deafening, nobody knowing what to say or do until William made the first move. After all, he probably never expected his mother to remarry, especially since she’d said she wouldn’t ever get married again. Johnny had been her one true love.
William put his napkin on the table and stood up, walking over to the window and looking out for a brief moment before finally coming back to the table. He stood next to his mother. “And I missed it?”
“It was very spur of the moment, William. We didn’t plan this, I promise.” She stood up, holding onto the chair, her nerves very apparent.
Slowly, a big smile spread across William’s face. “I’m so happy for you, Mom!”
Julie swore she could hear everybody let out a collective sigh of relief as excitement and congratulations permeated the room. William pulled Dixie into a warm embrace.
“You mean you’re okay that I got married again?” she asked, incredulously, as she looked up at him.
“Of course! Mom, I’ve wanted you to have a second chance at love most of my adult life. This is amazing news! I wish Harry was here to share in the celebration.”
“Me too, son, me too,” she said, as her eyes filled with tears. “I wasn’t sure if I’d even tell y’all today, but I’m sure glad I did!”
Everybody took turns hugging her until they finally all sat back down. Dixie proudly displayed her new wedding ring and regaled them with stories of her recent traveling adventures.
Julie didn’t know why her news was so surprising. This was how her Sunday dinners always went. There was never a dull moment with her crew, and she wouldn’t have had it any other way.
Janine reached her arms high into the air and then swept forward, her head hanging as her hands rested on the hardwood floor. She loved forward hangs. They allowed the tension that built up in her neck to release after a long day of teaching.
People often assumed that she, as a yoga teacher, would live a stress free lifestyle, but nothing could have been further from the truth. She loved having her studio, but managing the business sometimes wore her down. William helped, but she didn’t want to rely on him, especially since he was so busy with his own new business lately.
She missed having frequent date nights, like they used to do before he started working so much. She would often find him sitting in the town square, working furiously on his laptop. But, he didn’t seem happy. He seemed st
ressed, tense and worried much of the time, and that worried her.
“Long day?” she heard him say from behind as he walked into the studio.
“Every day is a long day, but you know I love it,” she said, smiling as she pulled him into a hug. Burying her head in his chest at the end of her work day was one of her favorite things.
“I know you do.”
They stood there for a moment before she pulled back and looked up at him. “What’s up?”
“Nothing. Just tired. I made thirteen calls today. Got one potential client.”
“That’s great, right?”
He shrugged his shoulders. “I guess.” He walked over and sat down on the rolling chair Janine kept in the corner of the teaching room. She sat on the floor, cross legged.
“William, you seem really unhappy with this new business. Maybe it’s not the right thing for you?”
“What else am I qualified to do, Janine? I’ve been in this line of work since just after high school.”
“You don’t have to keep doing things that make you miserable, William. Look at your mom!”
“What do you mean?”
“She thought getting married again would mean her marriage to Johnny didn’t matter, but she realized that she deserved a second act.”
“But Mom is in her seventies, and I’m certainly not. I have to stick with what I know and try to build a lasting career. I can’t just stop what I’m doing and pursue something else.”
Janine leaned back a bit and crossed her arms. “And why not?”
“It’s not mature.”
“Do you think I’m not mature?”
He stared at her. “I think you’re very mature. Are you trying to start an argument?”
She smiled slightly. “I’m saying that I do what I love, and I’ve made it a pretty good business too. What about your Mom?”
“What about her?”
“She loved reading and created a wonderful bookstore. And Dawson. He loved working on things and became a contractor. And Tucker loves toys so…”
“Yeah, I get it. But, I’ve always been more… straight laced.”
She leaned up onto her knees and ruffled his hair until it was a mess.
“There.”
“What did that accomplish?”
“I messed up that perfectly put together persona you’ve got going on, and you didn’t die.”
William chuckled. “What do you want me to do, Janine?”
“I want you to do what makes you happy. Okay, let’s try a little exercise I learned in a personal development book one time.”
“Oh, good Lord,” he said, rolling his eyes.
“Humor me, okay?”
“Fine.”
“Close your eyes.” Unwilling to argue with her, William closed his eyes. “Now, try to clear your mind by taking a few deep breaths. In through your nose and out through your mouth.” He did as she said. “We want to access your subconscious mind, and to do that I’m going to ask you some questions, and I want you to answer me with the first thing that comes to mind, okay? No filtering. Just be quick and honest.”
“Okay.”
She decided to ask him some easy questions first just to get him in the zone. “What’s your favorite color.”
“Blue.”
“What’s your favorite movie?”
“Die Hard.”
She wanted to laugh at that last answer, but didn’t want to mess up the exercise. “What’s your favorite food?”
“Steak.”
“If you could wake up and do any career tomorrow, what would it be?”
“Fishing guide.”
Suddenly, William’s eyes popped open. They stared at each other as a grin spread across Janine’s face. “There ya go!”
“You want me to be a fishing guide?”
“No. You want you to be a fishing guide!”
William stood up and walked across the room. “Janine, I can’t do that. First of all, I haven’t fished the marshes since I was a kid. Secondly, I have bills to pay like my rent, my car…”
She stood in front of him and put her hands on his arms. “You get one life, William. One. Your soul wants to be a fishing guide, and I’m going to help you get there. You helped me, now it’s my turn to help you. Okay?”
“This is insane. You know that, right?”
“The most insane things always lead to the most amazing things.”
He shook his head. “I’m not sure you’re right about that.”
Meg walked across the small community college campus and sighed. Going back to school was harder than she’d thought it would be. Vivi was teething again, and she’d kept Meg up all night again. Her eyes felt like they were going to close up on her whether she liked it or not.
“Hey there!”
She turned to see her friend, Darcy, standing next to the fountain. She was holding her son, Hatcher, on her hip as he leaned over and tried to reach the water spouting up into the air.
“Long time, no see!” Meg said. It had been weeks since she’d seen her only friend, with school and being a mommy taking up most of her time.
“I haven’t seen you around the bakery lately.”
Meg sighed and sat down on the edge of the fountain. Darcy tossed a penny over her shoulder and sat down, Hatcher wiggling on her lap. “School is killing me. I’ve recently learned that I might be an idiot.”
Darcy laughed. “Girl, you’re not an idiot. It’s hard going back to school with ‘mom brain’. I can’t imagine doing this right now. Be proud of yourself!”
“I’m barely passing math. Christian has been trying to help me, but last night we both fell asleep during my homework session and poor Vivi was sitting in her high chair looking at us like we were the worst parents ever.”
“Isn’t your mom keeping her for you?”
“Sometimes. But, I feel bad asking her to keep her when I’m not actually in class. She has her own life too. Vivi is my responsibility, and I love being her momma. I do. Sometimes, I just need a break!”
“Listen, I’m happy to keep sweet little Vivi anytime, okay?”
“You’re busy, Darcy. But, thank you.”
“I’m not so busy that I can’t help my friend. Listen, you and Christian pick a date night and let me keep Vivi. You can return the favor when school is out. Sound good?”
Meg smiled gratefully. “Our date night might consist of putting on our PJs, eating frozen pizza and staring at the TV.”
Darcy stood up and put Hatcher back on her hip. “You do what you need to do, girl. No judgment here!”
Meg laughed and stood up. She lightly pinched Hatcher’s fat little leg. “You seem to have it all together.”
Darcy rolled her eyes. “Yesterday, I burst into tears because I couldn’t get Hatcher to stop throwing his nasty baby food at me. I had prunes in my hair and had to wash it all over again.”
“Good to know I’m not alone,” Meg said, chuckling. “This morning, Vivi threw up all over my new shirt. I had to change, and I got to class ten minutes late.”
“Motherhood!” Darcy said, laughing. “Well, I’d better get going. I signed up for this mommy and baby class over at the community center. I’m now regretting my life decisions.”
Meg smiled. “You’ll do fine.”
Darcy started walking away. “I don’t make friends well, remember?”
“Well, you’ve got me as a friend!”
Meg watched as Darcy walked away, Hatcher bucking around on her hip. She was so thankful to have someone who totally understood her life right now.
Chapter Four
Dixie was a little bit nervous. It was a rare event that William asked to talk to her privately. As much as she loved her son, their past issues were worrying her today. All those years they didn’t speak, and now he wanted to talk to her? Maybe he was just putting up a good front at Sunday Dinner, and he really didn’t approve of her marriage to Harry. Maybe he was about to break ties with her for good. The thought made her shu
dder.
She pulled the apple pie out of the oven and set it on the counter. William had always loved her apple pie, so Dixie had decided to make it just in case she needed a little extra something to keep him from being mad at her. After all, what else could he want to talk about?
Just as she heard the coffee finish brewing, William knocked on her front door. Ever since Johnny had died all those years ago, she’d gotten into the habit of keeping her doors locked. Seagrove was the safest community she could imagine, but she didn’t want to take any chances.
“Hey, hon,” she said as she opened the door. William smiled.
“Hey, Mom.” He leaned over and gave her a quick hug before walking inside. At least that was a good sign. “Is that apple pie I smell?”
Dixie smiled as she followed him into the kitchen. “Of course. When my son calls a meeting with me, I figure it’s never a bad idea to have pie on hand. Can I cut you a slice?”
“Sure,” he said, sitting down at the kitchen table. She could see him out of the corner of her eye, fidgeting with his hands. He was nervous, and now she was too.
“Coffee?”
“Of course.”
“Black, right?”
“The manly kind of coffee,” he said, laughing as he recounted his father, Johnny, always saying that.
Thankfully, Dixie had kept some of Johnny's old coffee mugs, mainly his favorites. They were stained and mostly ugly, but she always liked serving William his coffee from one of those mugs. Anything to keep her beloved Johnny’s memory alive.
Sometimes, being newly married felt like a dream. She adored Harry, and she had never thought she'd find somebody like that again. In some ways, he reminded her of Johnny with his quick wit and deep, gruff voice. In other ways, they were so different. Johnny had loved watching old westerns while Harry loved action movies. Johnny had been an early riser, often waking up before the sun, and he’d worked with his hands his whole life. Harry liked to sleep in on a lazy Sunday afternoon and wasn’t the handiest person she’d ever met. But, he was a great cook and told the funniest jokes.
There were moments, especially early on, when she’d felt guilty about falling in love again. She knew that Johnny would want that for her, especially after she had waited so many years. He would never have wanted her to grow old alone.