“Well, thank you.” Flynn smiled back at her. “Now it’s your turn, April.”
“Hello, my name is April O’Riley.” She held up a hand like a grade-school child. “I’m a messed-up woman, but I’m trying to get my life back together. I’ve always lived in the moment and never worried about the future.” She lowered her hand and kept talking. “If people can smell fear in others, then I wonder if they can also get a whiff of something from folks like me who would do anything just to get someone to love them. That’s all I’ve ever wanted—and that’s what kept getting me into trouble. Some old boy would say those three magic words, and I’d fall into bed with him. I’ve decided to trust no one for a long time, not until I figure out how to tell the difference between love and lust.”
“Have you been to an addiction thing before, like drugs or AA?” Flynn asked.
“I went to an AA meeting,” April admitted. “Even though I’m not addicted to alcohol, I thought they might help me understand why I was addicted to the wrong type of man. They didn’t. I took one of the guys that was there that night home with me and let him move in the next week. He stole all my money, and the café I had been working in closed its doors. Times have been tough these past couple of years, so I was living in my car when I got the call about this place.”
“How did that make you feel?” Nessa asked.
April fidgeted with a cookie, turning it around and around in her hands. “Angry, sad, and relieved, all at the same time.” All the emotions she had felt following that phone call came rushing back. According to everything she’d read in the self-help books, talking about it got them out of her heart. Tears rolled down her cheeks. “Of all the places I didn’t want to go, this was right up there at the top of the list. I hated the idea of having to come back here and hoped that there would be money involved so I could leave and find a place to live. But the closer I got, the more I realized that if I didn’t face my demons, I was never going to do anything but keep making the same old mistakes. Right now, I feel like I don’t deserve this chance to get my life together. Nanny Lucy would come to me at night in my dreams and say over and over, ‘I told you so,’ and I’d wake up so angry that I hadn’t proved her wrong.”
“It’s amazing how we all saw her in a different light, isn’t it?” Nessa said. “I’ll take a turn now. My name is Nessa O’Riley”—she raised her hand like April had—“and I have trust and commitment issues. I had a fairly decent childhood, even if my folks were ultra-religious and overbearing. The only time I was ever happy was right here, which is strange since this is where April was the unhappiest. I thought I could find that childhood happiness when I got back, but all I got was disappointment. That makes me wonder if my past relationships failed because I wanted the same sense of contentment and happiness that I felt when I came here.”
April’s head bobbed up and down with every word. Her problems hadn’t been the same as Nessa’s, but she could relate to wanting something permanent and not just a flash in the pan. “Looks like coming back to Blossom is helping us all.”
“Good session.” Nessa yawned. “I’m going to get a quick shower and read until I fall asleep.”
“Me too,” Flynn said, “and thanks to both of you. I guess it does help to talk about our feelings.”
“Yep.” April grinned. “And what is said in the kitchen over milk and cookies stays in the kitchen, right? We’re trying to tear up the roots that made us who we are and plant better seeds for the future.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Nessa and Flynn said at the same time.
Flynn went straight to his room and shut the door. April leaned over the table toward Nessa and whispered, “Are you all right?”
“No, but one thing Mama used to say feels pretty good right now. She said that all your problems look better at sunrise than they do at sunset. I’m going to believe that tonight,” Nessa answered.
“If you can’t sleep tonight, just wake me up. We can talk more if you need to,” April offered.
Nessa stood up and gave April a quick hug. “I like having you for a cousin, but I like having you for a friend even more.”
April beamed. “Thanks. Right back at you.”
Chapter Twenty-One
The third’s the charm,” Nessa said when she finally got thread through the eye of the needle. “I can’t believe we’re finishing this in three weeks.” A part of her was glad to have the quilt done so she could get busy on her own quilts for the craft shows, but on the other hand, she would miss the time the three of them had spent together every morning. Now the others would go off to work every morning, and she would be alone.
“Seems like we’ve been here months instead of weeks.” Flynn put the last of his stitches in the quilt. “We’ve finished this job a full week ahead of time. I’m glad to have it done, but I’m going to miss the times we’ve had together. That does not mean I want to make another one, but . . .”
“But we need to be careful that we don’t wind up going our own ways and forget to set aside time to talk to each other,” April suggested.
“Be home in time for supper,” Nessa said. “I read that in a book. That was the writer’s secret to a happy family life. Her kids could have their friends over or play outside, or whatever, but when it was suppertime, they had to be home. They all sat around the table, just the family, not a bunch of friends, and talked about their day. They vented if they had problems, told funny stories or jokes. That’s what we need to do.”
“Yes!” Flynn and April said at the same time.
Then April shook her finger at Flynn. “Don’t get out your bragging britches just yet. We still have to roll the backing up over the edges and do the hemming.”
“Can we do it tonight after supper?” Flynn asked. “I’d like to be able to go to work full-time tomorrow morning.”
“I’m willing if y’all are,” Nessa agreed. “I want to get this out of the frame so I can begin one for the craft shows this fall.”
“What are you doing first?” April asked.
“The double wedding ring one that fell out of the closet on Flynn’s head. While I’m quilting it, I want to think about the good times I had when we were kids,” Nessa answered.
“We did have fun, didn’t we? You two coming to stay a few weeks was the highlight of my summer. I waited on the porch for your folks to bring you, and the day you left I spent a lot of time at the falls crying.” April smiled. “I’m glad we all came back home.”
“I’ll tell Jackson that I can start work full-time tomorrow. Shall we take it out of the frame?” Flynn asked. “I’m not willing to work on another one, but I will admit that doing this has helped me. April, coming here was the highlight of my summers, too.”
“I don’t have to tell y’all how much I loved my time here. Seems like it took coming back as an adult to realize that although I loved Nanny Lucy, it was spending time with y’all that was the real prize.” Nessa undid a few clamps. “I’ll get it all pinned while y’all are at work today, and we’ll get the hemming done after supper.”