by Nicole Ellis
Her mother’s implications were clear: she didn’t think Tia could handle being on her own. There may have been a time when that was true—when she’d been fresh out of high school and naïve about a lot of things in the world. But the credit card debt she’d racked up from splurges at the mall and partying with her friends were a thing of the past. She’d worked her fingers to the bone to pay off her debt, and now lived a very minimalist lifestyle—not that her parents would ever admit how far she’d come.
“I’m twenty-six,” Tia said, “and I like living here. Anyway, I have to go. I think someone’s trying to get my attention.” She hated lying, but she needed to extricate herself from this conversation before her mother’s digs at her career and life choices made headway into her psyche. “I’ll talk to you later. Give my love to everyone.” She hung up the phone, just as her mother started to say something else.
Zoe had told her to take a fifteen-minute break, and she still had about half of that left, so she continued on down the lane. She passed by the first nineteen cottages, then stopped in front of the last one, her favorite.
Once upon a time, it had been painted a shade of pink, but now only specks of the original color remained. Since the first time Tia laid eyes on the small porch, charming front window, and glimpse of the water through the overgrown brush on the opposite side of the road, it had enchanted her.
She sat on the porch steps to take in her surroundings. Being this far away from the main event grounds gave the impression that she wasn’t even on the resort property anymore. Only two of the other cottages were visible from this vantage point, and the noise from the wedding was barely audible. Here, it was just her, the birds twittering in the bushes, and the squirrels racing around the trees. This was the space to mature that she’d been hoping for in her move to Willa Bay.
After a few minutes, she reluctantly stood and walked back toward the wedding. Zoe probably wouldn’t mind if she took an extended break, but being new, Tia wanted to put her best foot forward. She couldn't allow the issues with her family to affect her work. This was her event to manage, and she intended to make sure it was the best wedding any of the guests had ever attended.
7
Samantha
Sam knocked on the front door of her parents’ house. She’d grown up here, and it still felt odd to not use her own key. She waited on the porch, holding a bag of potato chips – her contribution to the family BBQ. The sound of footsteps approaching was almost masked by the cacophony of screaming children. She then heard her mother’s voice shouting just beyond the door, “Knock it off! You’re going to need to go outside if you can’t keep it down.”
Sam bit back a smile. Briggs family dinners were never quiet affairs, especially with Libby’s four kids in attendance. However, her mom seemed more on edge tonight than usual, if she was bothering to say anything about the noise.
Debbie flung the door open, and her face immediately erupted in a huge grin. “Sam! I’m so happy to see you!” She wrapped her arms around her daughter so tightly that Samantha had to adjust her body to catch her breath.
“Hey, Mom.” Samantha rested her head on Debbie’s shoulder, like she had so many times before. Her fingers pressed into her mother’s back, savoring the emotional and physical warmth of the loving embrace. When Debbie eased her grip, Sam stepped back, inhaling the comforting floral scent of her mother’s favorite perfume.
Debbie didn’t let go of Sam completely, holding her at arm’s length to get a good look at her. “You got sunburnt.”
Sam laughed. “Yeah, that tends to happen in the Caribbean. I swear I put on a ton of sunscreen every day.”
“But you look happy too.” Debbie cocked her head to the side. “Less stressed than the last time I saw you.”
“Probably because I just got back from two weeks on a cruise ship.” Sam smiled at her. Working on the boat hadn’t been a vacation in the normal sense of the word, but it had been a nice reprieve from everything back home. She’d only been back in Willa Bay for two days and the reality of her real life was already crashing down on her.
“I bet Brant was happy to see you,” Debbie said. “He probably missed you a lot while you were gone.” She eyed Sam expectantly.
“Uh-huh. He did.” Sam hadn’t seen Brant since they’d broken up weeks before. A sharp pang of guilt stole her breath for a moment. Although she didn’t want to be romantically involved with Brant anymore, he’d been her best friend and she mourned the loss of his friendship.
“Is he working tonight?” Her mom looked past her, as though hoping to see Brant lurking by the car. “I was hoping he’d come to dinner. We haven’t seen him in a while either.”
“No, sorry. He wasn’t able to make it.” Sam hated the sadness on her mother’s face. Telling her about the breakup wouldn’t be easy, and she intended to put it off for as long as possible. She didn’t want to deal with all of her family’s opinions on the subject when she was still trying to work through her own feelings.
Debbie nodded. “That’s too bad. Well, come in. Everyone will be excited to see you.” She stepped aside to allow Sam room to enter the house.
A little girl zoomed across their path as they walked toward the kitchen, moving so fast that Sam couldn’t tell by the flash of golden hair which of Libby’s two daughters it had been. In the living room, a young boy, most likely Sam’s nephew, Tommy, shouted angrily at one of his siblings about stealing a toy.
Debbie grimaced and rubbed her temples. “They’re louder than usual. I’m not sure how much more of this I can take.”
They entered the kitchen, which was connected to both a small family room on one side and a formal dining room on the other. Libby rushed around the kitchen, grabbing burger fixings from the refrigerator and setting them on the counter. Debbie took plates down from an upper cupboard and carried them out to the dining room.
“Hey, Sam.” Libby, still gripping a package of American cheese in one hand, strode around the kitchen island and wrapped an arm around her sister.
“Hey, Libby.” Sam hugged her back, then raised an eyebrow. “You’ve got enough food here for several small armies.”
Libby laughed. “That’s about what our family is getting to be. You have no idea how much four growing children eat, especially the boys.” She rolled her eyes. “Some days, William eats more food than Gabe and I combined.”
Sam nodded. “I can imagine.” She couldn’t picture having four kids though. When she’d been with Brant, they’d talked about having one child, maybe two at the most. The idea of four was overwhelming.
“Okay, I can’t deal with this noise anymore,” Debbie said as she walked back into the kitchen. “Libby, can you send them outside, please?”
Libby studied their mom’s face, then nodded. “Sure. Of course.” She went into the hallway and yelled at top volume. “Kids! All of you outside! Now!”
“Me too?” William, Libby’s oldest child asked from his seat on the family room couch where he’d been playing on his tablet.
“Yeah. You too. Hand over the tablet and go play outside with Dad and Grandpa.” Libby held out her hand and William reluctantly released his electronic device. The kids filed outside, and Libby slid the glass door closed. “That ought to keep them busy for a while. Gabe and Dad can deal with them.”
Debbie frowned. “Sorry. Usually I love having them around, but I have a bit of a headache today.”
“No problem,” Libby said breezily. “They were driving me nuts too.” She surveyed the kitchen. “Okay. I need someone to slice the tomatoes and onions, someone to wash the lettuce, and someone to set the table.”
“I’ll do the lettuce,” Sam said.
“No. I’ll do that,” Libby said. “I already have the colander out. How about you set the table instead.”
“Sure.” Sam wasn’t sure why her older sister had even given them an option if she already had plans for what each person should do, but it wasn’t worth it to argue with her. Sam got the silverware out,
then started setting the table with the plates her mother had already brought out.
Libby came up beside her and switched the knife from the left of the plate to the right. “You put them on the wrong side.”
Sam eyed her sister. “Really? Does it matter? This isn’t a catering event.”
Libby stuck her hands on her hips. “It matters.” She pivoted and returned to the kitchen.
Sam took a satisfying moment to glare at Libby’s back, then reluctantly swapped the placement of the silverware she’d already laid out. Being the baby of the family, sometimes her sisters and parents still treated her like a little kid.
“Okay, I’m done,” she announced. “Is there anything else that you trust me to help with?” Her tone was snarky, but she didn’t really care.
Debbie looked up from the stack of onions she was slicing. “I’m about done here. Let me get these on a platter and then I need to get some things out of the refrigerator in the garage. Would you mind helping me with that?”
“Sure.” Sam walked over to the sliding glass door and peered into the backyard. The kids had settled down and the three oldest were tossing a football with Libby’s husband while Kaya and her grandfather threw a softball back and forth.
“Okay, I’m ready,” Debbie announced from behind Sam. They walked out to the garage together and Debbie opened the refrigerator, which was packed with hamburger buns, jars of pickles, and several bottles of ketchup, mustard, and mayonnaise. Debbie looked at Sam sheepishly and handed her three plastic bags full of hamburger buns. “There was a sale at the grocery store, so I stocked up a bit. You never know how much people will eat at these dinners.”
Sam laughed. “Or you just can’t resist a good sale.” Her mom was well known for her bargain shopping.
Debbie’s face darkened. “I don’t get much time for grocery shopping anymore. Or, for that matter, much of anything besides the business.” She ducked her head into the refrigerator and rooted around for something in the back.
When Debbie found what she was looking for and emerged from the fridge again, Sam asked, “Is that what’s been bothering you? You seem a little, um, upset.”
Debbie put bottles and jars of condiments on top of the big chest freezer next to the fridge, then leaned against it and stared at the floor. When she looked up, tears shimmered in her eyes. “I’m a little overwhelmed with the catering business. I’d just gotten used to having time for myself before we bid on all of these new jobs. Libby wants us to expand the business and I don’t want to let her down, but I can’t even enjoy having the kids around when they’re here because I’m so on edge about everything.”
Sam set the hamburger buns down on the freezer and hugged her mom. “I’m sure she doesn’t want you to be unhappy though. Can you tell her you don’t want to take on so many events?”
Debbie shook her head. “No. She needs the work.”
Sam wasn’t sure what Debbie was referring to, but this didn’t seem like the time to pry into Libby’s life. “What if I helped with the business again? I have some time before school starts.” School was scheduled to start in two weeks, and there was very little chance of her getting another job as a PE teacher before then, but she was still holding on to that small bit of hope. “Maybe you could spend some time out of the house doing things for you. Didn’t you have that group of friends that knitted hats for chemo patients?”
Debbie nodded. “Yeah. But I haven’t met with them in months. I meant to go last month, but something came up.”
“I think you should do it,” Sam said. “You need to take some time for yourself.” That was one of the things that had become evident on the cruise ship. Being away from everyone she knew had given her a lot of time to think.
The stairs on the exterior of the garage, coming down from Meg’s apartment above, creaked loudly and the side door opened.
“Sam!” Meg ran over to her, gave her a hug, then slugged her lightly in the arm. “You had all of us worried. I can’t believe you were having fun on a Caribbean cruise this whole time.”
“Well, it wasn’t exactly a vacation, but yeah.” Sam grinned at her. “I had a good time.”
While Meg was distracted, Debbie turned away from them and ran her hand over her eyes. Although their conversation had been interrupted, Sam hoped her mother had taken her advice to heart. She was obviously hurting, and it would do her good to do something for herself for once.
Meg glanced at the food stacked on the freezer. “Do you need any help carrying this in?”
Debbie smiled at her, seemingly recovered. “Unless we want a jar of pickles dropped on the floor, we could definitely use some help.”
Meg shuddered. “Yeah, no. My whole apartment upstairs would stink of brine.” She carefully scooped up a jar of pickles and a bag of bread. Debbie and Sam grabbed the remaining items and they carried it all into the house.
Libby had everything arranged on the table when they arrived. “The burgers will be done in about ten minutes.” She narrowed her eyes at Samantha. “Which gives me just enough time to grill you about going off the grid these last few weeks.”
Sam squirmed under her big sister’s scrutiny. “I wasn’t off the grid. Brant knew where I was.”
“Yeah, but he wouldn’t tell us.” Meg took an olive off the crudités platter and popped it into her mouth. “It was like he was avoiding everyone in the family.”
A pit formed in Sam’s stomach. It was probably because he was avoiding all of them. Her decision to dissolve their engagement had been a shock to him, and although he understood her reasons, he hadn’t been happy about it.
“I’m sure he wasn’t avoiding you guys.” Her gaze roamed over the room, hoping for an excuse to change the subject.
Unfortunately, her sisters and mom weren’t going to give up that easily.
“So how are wedding plans going?” Libby asked, pushing a plate about an inch closer to the center of the table to bring it in line with the others. “I bet you really missed him while you were gone.”
Sam stared at the errant plate. “They’re going.” Straight out the window, she thought.
“Have you decided on a location yet?” Debbie asked. “We just catered a wedding at the Inn at Willa Bay, and it was gorgeous. Meg and Zoe have done a wonderful job there.”
Meg blushed. “Aw, thanks, Mom.”
“So?” Libby pressed. “Do you have a date? I want to get it on the books before our catering calendar fills up.”
They weren’t going to let go of this. Maybe it was better to rip off the bandage before she had to tell them any more lies.
She took a deep breath and said quickly, “Brant and I broke up.”
Her mother’s face filled with shock. “What?”
“You broke up with him?” Meg whispered. “Why?”
Libby eyed Sam with disbelief. “But you were like the perfect couple.”
Sam took a step back to process their reactions. Libby thought they were perfect? That was ironic, because her oldest sister was the one with the perfect life. After a moment, she shrugged. “We’ve grown apart over the last year, and it didn’t feel right anymore.”
“Did something happen?” Meg asked. “If he cheated on you, I’ll kill him.”
From the look on Meg’s face, Sam didn’t doubt it. She eked out a small smile. “No need for a lynch mob. Nothing happened.” She bit her lip. “I’d been unhappy for a while and I realized that we’re just better as friends.”
She briefly shut her eyes. Brant was a great guy, but she wanted something more. Maybe the burning passion that the movies portrayed wasn’t realistic, but she wanted to find that out on her own.
When she looked up at her family, they were still staring at her like she’d sprouted wings.
“That’s it? You’re just giving up on your relationship?” Libby asked.
“No, that’s not it.” Sam tapped her fingers on the tabletop. “Brant and I had several long discussions about it and we both came to the conclusion t
hat we should just be friends. We didn’t have that strong connection that you need for marriage.” She met each of their gazes in turn. “It was a mutual decision.”
“But…” Libby started to say.
“No.” Sam held up her hand. “This isn’t something you have a say in.”
Debbie still appeared shell-shocked, but she wrapped an arm around Sam. “I’m so sorry, honey. That must have been a difficult decision to make.”
Sam leaned into her. “It was.” All of the emotions she’d been trying to repress since the breakup crashed over her, and she fought to stay in control.
Meg patted her on the arm. “I always liked Brant, but I’m sure you had your reasons to break up with him.” She cleared her throat and looked pointedly at Libby. “I think Sam’s had enough of the inquisition. Can you check on the burgers?”
Libby opened her mouth, but then clamped her lips shut and nodded before sliding open the door and disappearing into the backyard.
Sam gave Meg a grateful look. “Thanks.”
Meg nodded. “No problem.”
The door opened again and the kids and everyone else spilled into the dining room. While they were washing hands and getting settled, Sam excused herself and went out the front door to sit on the porch. The noises inside were muffled, but she was blissfully alone. She hadn’t wanted to ruin their family dinner with her news, but at least it was done now. She didn’t need to worry about keeping the breakup a secret. There was still the matter of the loss of her job, but that could wait.
A sudden urge to smile surprised her. Her family’s reaction had been upsetting, but now she was free. She could finally close the chapter in that part of her life and move on. She breathed in the sweet scent of the jasmine bushes her parents had planted when they’d bought their house over thirty years ago. She was single and jobless, but for the first time in months, she was bursting with hope for the future.