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 shudder.
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.
At the same time, it had felt like she was betraying him, like she was saying that their years together hadn't mattered. It had been a real struggle, and one that she had to deal with alone out on the road. But when Harry had proposed on a whim and they found themselves standing in front of a Las Vegas preacher, she had known without a doubt that she was doing the right thing.
“So, what's up?” she asked, as she sat down at the table, sliding a piece of pie and a cup of coffee over to her son.
“Aren't you having any?”
She shook her head and smiled. “Darlin’, I ate so much junk food on that trip. I'm trying to pack myself full of vegetables before we leave in a few weeks.”
“I’m going to miss you,” he said, softly. It did her heart good to hear him say that. For so many years, they hadn’t been in contact at all, and hearing him admit that he would miss her, even on a short trip, warmed her heart.
“Don't you worry. We won't be gone that long. Harry has some family up in Virginia, so I think we're just going to head up there for a few weeks this summer so I can get to know them. He has two nieces, and they have a whole passel of kids.”
William smiled. “I’m sure they'll love you as much as everyone does.”
“Let's hope so, because they ain't getting rid of me!”
“Where is Harry?”
“Oh, he had a follow up appointment with his neurologist today. Mine isn't until next week. Gotta go see how this whole Parkinson's thing is going, get our medications refilled. You know the drill.” She always downplayed the disease, unwilling to let it define who she was or how she lived her life.
“And how are you feeling?” he asked, still restlessly moving his fingers.
“I’m feeling fine, son. But you look like you're about to come out of your skin. Tell me what's going on.”
“Well, I’m about to make a life-changing decision, and I just thought maybe I needed to talk to somebody about it first.“
Dixie grinned. “Are you going to ask Janine to marry you?“
William almost choked on his coffee, putting it on the table and covering his mouth. “What would make you say that?“
“I don’t know, just seemed like that’s where you were headed. Don’t you love her?”
“I do. But I don’t think we’re quite ready for that yet. Janine is still building her business, and I…”
“Spit it out, William. What’s got you so rattled?”
“I’m a little afraid I’m going to disappoint you.”
She stared at him. “Disappoint me? You could never do that. What on earth is going on?”
“You know I just started my own marketing firm after I came back from Texas, right?”
She nodded. “Of course. Janine told me you've been working morning, noon and night trying to make it successful. I'm proud of you for that.”
“I’m thinking of closing it down.”
Dixie's head jolted back a bit, her eyebrows knitted together in confusion. “Close it down? Have you given it enough time?”
He sighed. “I hate it, Mom. I loathe it with a passion. It's just what I thought I was good at, but I can't imagine getting up every morning for the rest of my life and running that business.”
She reached over and rubbed his hand. “Well, then do something else.”
He laughed. “You and Janine make everything sound so simple.”
“Well, that's because it is simple. There's no need for a person to hate what they do. I wouldn't get up every day and run that bookstore if I didn't love it. Janine wouldn't do her yoga if she didn't love it. You need a passion, or you'll make yourself miserable.”
“But I have rent to pay. And I need to be putting away for the future because I would like to marry Janine one day. But right now, I just feel like a big failure.”
She squeezed his hand and looked him in the eye. “The only time you're a failure is if you quit. You're not quitting, are you? I mean, you're gonna find something else you like to do?”
He sucked in a deep breath and then blew it out. “Well, that's why I'm here. I sort of have something in mind.”
She smiled. “See? I knew my William would have a back up plan. What is it?”
“I think I want to start a fishing business, in the marsh.”
Now, she really was confused. “A fishing business? Like where you sell fish that you catch?"