“I’m not married,” Roxie said with a fake smile.
“Looks like neither of us has changed much,” Eden said with a somewhat false laugh.
“I don’t know whether that’s good or bad,” Roxie said. She laughed, but even to herself, the sound came out hollow. “But I do know that Lily and I are now facing the world together, so that’s one thing that’s different.”
Sympathy instantly flashed across Eden’s face, and Roxie cringed. She didn’t want sympathy. She just wanted to go back to some semblance of normalcy in her life, whether that was possible or not.
“You always were stronger than you thought,” Eden said.
“I’m glad someone thinks that,” Roxie said, this time with a real smile. “I did fail my sister, though, and that doesn’t show any strength at all. I just have to live with the guilt of that knowledge, and I have to try to be a better aunt than I was a sister, for not being there for her while she was falling apart. Maybe if I had been there, this situation never would have happened.”
She finished off with her smile fading away. She somehow felt bad when she did feel a moment of joy. Was it okay to feel good when her sister never could experience life again? She didn’t think so.
“You can’t blame yourself for someone else’s actions,” Eden quickly assured her. It wasn’t taking Roxie long to remember why she had loved this person for so many years. “And it’s certainly not selfish to strive for your own dreams. It wasn’t as if you were doing it at someone else’s expense.” There was more passion in Eden’s voice as she finished her words.
“You were always that friend that made me feel better about myself at the end of a conversation,” Roxie said. “I can’t believe I ever forgot that.”
“Things got rough for you in your last months here. I understand,” Eden said. The warmth in the woman’s eyes made Roxie glad she was sitting. She didn’t understand how forgiving Eden was acting toward her, considering how easily Roxie had walked away.
“I’m sorry I left the way I did,” Roxie said.
“You had to do what you had to do. But you’re home now. Is it permanent?” With those words, Roxie could see Eden had a little bit of her own guard up. She was still being more open than Roxie had the right to expect, though.
“I don’t know yet,” Roxie admitted.
“Well, you’re here for now, and you have your beautiful niece with you, and you know the people of this town will embrace you both.”
“Yeah, sometimes it’s a little overwhelming to have so many people watching every action you make,” Roxie said.
“Tell me about it,” Eden said with a sigh that had Roxie wondering if there was a story there to be told.
“Is there any special man in your life?” Roxie asked.
“Ah, you didn’t pay attention when I said I was a single woman,” Eden pointed out as she held up an orange. “I would be eating chocolate if I were in a relationship,” she added with a laugh.
“You’ve always looked amazing. I don’t think you need to abstain from anything,” Roxie said.
“We’re getting old,” Eden said with seriousness, her eyes wide as if this were a fate worse than death.
This did make Roxie laugh, a real laugh, something she’d needed to do for a while now and something she couldn’t remember doing in so long, the sound was odd to hear.
“How sad for us that we think being in our midtwenties is old,” Roxie said when the laughter faded away.
“When the average marriage age of our group is about twenty-two, I feel old,” Eden told her.
“What about . . . ?” She trailed off. She probably shouldn’t say that name and was glad she stopped herself when sadness entered Eden’s eyes.
“We haven’t been together in a while. He left,” she said, a sparkle in her eyes. “And it was for the best.”
“Then we won’t speak of it,” Roxie assured her. She could see questions in Eden’s eyes, but she was grateful her friend hadn’t brought up Kian. Since the two of them had dated brothers, they were very aware of each other’s circumstances.
“I think that’s enough talk about men or husbands or any of that,” Eden said. “It’s better to focus on the fact that you’re a mother now.”
“I’m not a mom; I’m an aunt,” she said as she reached over and ran her fingers through Lily’s hair. The amount of love she felt for this child was unbelievable. Lily was oblivious to the conversation they were having as she played make-believe with her small horse figures.
“You are a mom now,” Eden insisted. “Your niece can’t be more than three,” she pointed out.
“Almost four,” Roxie said. Her heart was racing.
“She’s going to think of you as her mom. You will be, in every sense of the word,” Eden said gently.
“I . . . I don’t . . .” Roxie couldn’t even form a thought to that statement, let alone say actual words.
“I’m not trying to stress you,” Eden quickly said. “Maybe I should keep my opinions to myself. A few people have told me that.”
Those words pulled Roxie from her panic attack as she focused on Eden. “Your advice always had a way of grounding me,” she admitted. “But that’s just something that hasn’t crossed my mind. I don’t know why not. I guess I’ve never really thought of myself as being capable of being a mother.”
“Because this is all happening so quickly,” Eden said. “But why don’t we push it out of your mind for now and take a stroll? It’s my lunch hour, and Sal isn’t here right now. He got stuck over at Ms. Martha’s house and probably won’t be here for another hour.”
This made Roxie grin again. “Is it an official meeting?” she asked with a sly smile.
“He thinks we all actually believe that,” Eden said with a chuckle.
Martha and Sal had been secretly seeing each other for more than ten years under the pretense of client and attorney, but everyone knew the truth. Why the two of them wouldn’t admit they were in love was a mystery. Maybe the clandestine meetings added excitement. Roxie wasn’t even offended he was late to see her.
“I would love to take a walk,” Roxie said.
“Perfect.” Within a minute, Eden set the phones and had the place locked up. They stepped outside, and Roxie took in a breath of fresh air as Lily once again clung to her hand and looked around.
“We have this great new park that an anonymous donor contributed to, but we all know it was the Forbes family. They just don’t like to be in the limelight for some reason. There’s a great new volunteer program in town, too, that is helping higher-risk kids do things in the community and giving them a chance to earn scholarships for college and put résumé-building skills on their applications. I’ll take you over to the park, where we will probably see some of the kids doing cleanup work and repairs,” Eden said with excitement.
“Sounds like a lot of things have changed around here since I’ve been gone,” Roxie said.
“I know. I remember we used to take part in community projects, but it was so difficult to get someone to head things, and now there are more than enough people willing to jump in and lead the kids. I give as much time as I can, and I love every minute of it,” Eden said.