"Your only employee wasn't available on your opening day?" Colleen said.
"Well, she might have quit. But that's neither here nor there. I'll find somebody to help out."
"Back to my original question. Where did you stay last night? In your car?" Janine asked.
SuAnn smiled, but not in a normal way. She smiled and that sly way she always did when she was up to no good. "Well, there's this wonderful little inn that I found out about…"
"No. No you did not. You did not stay at the inn. The doors just opened. You did not take up space as his first guest ever." Julie said.
"Oh, but I did."
"Why didn't you call me last night? I can't believe you didn't tell me she was in town!" Julie said as Dawson stood there trying to defend himself. She had been hammering on for more than five minutes, not giving him the ability to even say a word.
“Julie, she asked me not to ruin the surprise. I assumed she was trying to just surprise her two daughters. She laid on a pretty big guilt trip.“
Julie sat down at one of the picnic tables on the deck and stared out over the vast ocean. Normally she found this place to be very peaceful, but right now she kind of wanted to run straight out into the water and see what would happen.
"Well, she certainly succeeded in surprising us."
He sat down across from her. "I'm really sorry I didn't tell you. I thought I was doing a nice thing for your mother."
"I just cannot believe she's here, and for good. I never would've predicted that she would've left her husband and moved here without telling anyone." Julie put her head in her hands.
"I know this isn't an ideal situation…"
"Ideal? This is horrible, Dawson. My mother, and I love her, is like some sort of poisonous octopus with these tentacles that just curl around you and cut your very air supply off.”
"Is it possible you might be just a little overdramatic right now?" Dawson said, shrinking down a bit as if he was afraid she was going to slug him.
She sighed and laid her head on the table. "It's just that I love my life here. I love you. I love Dixie. I love the bookstore. And even though I love my mother, she just sucks the life out of me sometimes. This is the most drama free place I've ever lived, but that's all about to change."
"Maybe not. Maybe she really did come here because she misses her family, and I don't think you would ever forgive yourself if your mother died and she didn't get to spend time with all of you."
She sat up and glared at him, her eyes squinting. "Did she tell you to say that? Has she gotten to you? That sounds like something she’d say.“
Dawson laughed. "Yes, last night we had several brainwashing sessions where she told me what to say."
"Very funny. I don't know what to do."
"What can you do? Burn down her bakery?"
“You probably shouldn't give me any ideas right now because I have a lighter, and I can get an alibi,” Julie said, laying her head back down on the table.
"Look, there's nothing your mother can do that is going to break us apart. There's nothing she can do to make you lose your business or your friendships or your relationships with your daughters.”
"You underestimate her."
"Maybe this is a chance for you to build a new relationship with her. Set boundaries. You're a grown woman. You have the right to tell her what's acceptable and what's not acceptable."
She looked at him. “Bless your heart. That all sounds very logical. But, this is my mother, and you can't use logic when it comes to her. I'm telling you she will cause trouble one way or the other, and waiting to figure out how she's going to do it is like sitting on a grenade waiting for it to explode."
“Okay, I didn't need that visual."
Julie finally laughed. "Please just promise me you'll protect yourself. I'm going to encourage her to find another place to live as soon as possible, but I hope you won't let her get in your head. She's very good at that."
"I promise. I'll be on guard."
“I mean, maybe it would be better if I had her come sleep on my sofa."
Dawson reached across the table and took her hands. "You have enough on your plate. I'm a grown man, and I can handle your mother. And who knows, one day she might be my mother-in-law."
Julie stared at him, her eyes wide. That was the first time she’d heard him mention anything about ever getting married, and honestly she hadn't thought about it much herself. Her marriage to Michael had been quite enough for one lifetime, but maybe Dawson was thinking differently than she was.
“What?"
“Okay, so by that deer in the headlights look, I'm going to take it that you’re not ready to talk about marriage. Let's just forget I said that, put it in a box and move on."
She smiled. "I think my brain is just a little overloaded right now."
He stood up and pulled her up with him, bringing her into a tight hug. "We will get through this together. Maybe your mother being here is going to be some kind of blessing in disguise."
“You're so cute. And so, so naïve."
Chapter Eight
Meg sat in the uncomfortable plastic chair and waited for the meeting to start. The counselor seemed nice enough. She was probably around her mother’s age, so not overly easy for her to relate to personally, but she said she had six children and went through postpartum depression with four of them. The thought alone made Meg never want to have another child again.
Postpartum depression was no joke.
There were days when she felt like she was just about to pop her head out from under the dark swamp waters she was in, but then she’d get pulled right back down again. The doctor had adjusted her hormones last week, and at first it seemed to help a little. But, then she found herself crying in the bathtub for over an hour while Christian rocked Vivi to sleep one night.
Five other women milled into the room and found seats, no one really looking at each other yet. PPD really didn’t make women overly social. They were probably just like her, doing the best they could to just stay upright.
“Welcome to the Thursday morning PPD support meeting. I’m your host and head counselor, Tammy Akins. I’m a lifelong resident of the Charleston area, and the mother of six crazy kids, ages ranging anywhere from four to fourteen…”
“Dear God in heaven. Who has that many kids nowadays?” the woman beside her whispered. Meg couldn’t help but giggle, causing Tammy to look at her for a moment before continuing her welcome message.
“Before we get started, why don’t we go around and introduce ourselves. Tell us about your baby, your family situation and how you’re struggling…”
“God, I hate introducing myself,” the woman whispered. Meg looked at her and nodded.
“Me too.”
“Why don’t we start with you, ma’am,” Tammy said, pointing at Meg.
“Me?”
“Yes, hon, you.”
Ugh. “Well, my name is Meg. I’m twenty years old, boyfriend, three month old baby girl named Vivi.”