Her class schedule had been grueling today, with students showing up at seven in the morning and classes ending at five. She was so thankful for the business, but what was she doing it for, really?
When she’d opened the studio, her grand plans had included William, a couple of dogs and a white picket fence. Part of her had even allowed herself to hope for children, although adoption would be their only option at her age. She’d been so excited thinking about the prospect of being a mother one day, hopefully through the foster care system. Now, everything had fallen apart right in front of her face, and she didn’t know what to do to get her motivation back.
“Well, if it isn’t my oldest daughter,” SuAnn said, loudly of course, as she took the seat across from Janine. All hopes for a nice, quiet lunch were dashed.
“Hi, Mom.” She stirred her cream of chicken soup for the hundredth time, still without taking a bite.
“You’re looking a little glum today, dear. Wrinkles are a very real thing, and they come on much faster if you frown.”
Janine wanted to run out into traffic, only there wasn’t any in the small town. “Mother, please. I can only take so much today.”
“Is this about that William fellow?”
“I’m not talking about this with you.”
“So, it is about him. Well, if you want to know what I think…”
“I truly don’t.”
“I think you need to call him up, apologize for breaking up with him and get on the next plane to Texas.”
Janine stared at her. “What?”
“Dear, and forgive me for pointing out the obvious, you’re not getting any younger. As you get older, there aren’t very many good men to choose from. Letting a perfectly good one go isn’t wise.”
Janine considered throwing her bowl of soup at her own mother for a moment, but thought better of it. Who would ever come to her studio again to learn about peace and tranquility if she nutted out at the local bistro?
"Do you ever think about what you're saying?"
“I know it's not popular to think this way in this day and age, but a good man is worth his weight in gold. Don't you want to settle down? You're exhausting to keep up with, Janine."
Janine glared at her mother. "I don't even understand what you're talking about. I'm literally sitting right here in front of you, stable as can be with my own business. You're the one telling me to go running off to some other state chasing after a man."
"It just breaks my heart to see you all alone."
"I'm not alone, Mother. I'm an independent woman who has her family all around her."
"Yes, but your family won't snuggle up with you at night. And your family isn't going to grow old with you, sitting on the front porch watching your grandchildren play in the front yard. You keep this up and you're going to be one of those old women at the nursing home all by herself."
Janine couldn't believe what she was hearing, although it shouldn’t have come as any surprise given the history she had with her mother. "I need to get back to work. I have a class in fifteen minutes, and I've lost my appetite."
Janine stood up and started walking towards the studio. "I don't know why you girls get mad at me so easily!" her mother yelled to her as she walked away.
"I don't know. I guess it will remain a mystery," Janine yelled back, rolling her eyes.
Dawson sat at the edge of the dock, his fishing pole dangling in the water. This was the first break he’d had in the last couple of weeks. New guests had come and gone, all of them leaving rave reviews, which made him feel a lot better about taking the risk on opening the inn.
But, living with Julie's mother had been worse than anticipated. She stuck her nose in everybody's business, even those very same guests. She rarely stayed in her room, unless it was late at night, and even then he had caught her in the living room poking through his grandmother’s antiques once or twice.
She claimed she had insomnia and that she was bored. He wanted to invite her to go on an adventure outside of his house, but he didn't think it was a very nice thing to say.
Thankfully, she was still at work at the bakery since she couldn't keep an employee. In the two weeks that she had been open, the two teenagers she’d hired had already quit. Apparently, she wasn't the easiest boss to work for.
“Hey, Dawson," Colleen said, walking up behind him.
"Oh, hey. What can I help you with?"
"I just wanted to stop by and drop off this guest list. Mom said you're going to be hosting the Halloween masquerade ball here. That's very exciting."
"Yeah, it's a big undertaking, but I think it will be good for business." He took the paper from Colleen’s hand.
"I think they got about twenty people to sign up,” Colleen said. Julie and Dixie had been nice enough to post a sign-up list at the bookstore so that people around town could register to come to the event. It was free, but they would also be selling raffle tickets and having a silent auction.
"That's great. Care to join me in a little fishing?"
Colleen laughed. "Not really my thing, but I don't mind sitting with you for a bit. I don't wanna interrupt if you're trying to get some peace from my grandmother."
Dawson laughed. "My lips are sealed. But you definitely are welcome to sit down."
Colleen sat down beside him, her legs dangling over the water. He enjoyed being around Julie's daughters. Although they were adults, they were always respectful and nice and welcomed him. That had been one of his concerns when he first met Julie. Would her daughters accept him or be upset that their mother wasn't with their father anymore?
Thankfully, they had accepted him with open arms. Of course, Julie's ex, Michael, had been the one to screw their marriage up anyway.
"So, how is my grandmother doing here?"
Dawson smiled. "She is… interesting."
"That's one way to put it," Colleen said, giggling. "Look, you don't have to mince words with me. I know how she is."
"I don't know how Julie and Janine grew up with her. Nothing is ever good enough. And she's got this way of pretending she's giving you a compliment but it's really a put down. It's kind of like walking through a field full of land mines."
"I am so sorry. We’re trying to figure out how to get her an apartment or something, but the bakery isn't bringing in enough money yet and she doesn't seem to have any money of her own. I don't really understand that. "
"Has anyone asked her about that?"
Colleen smiled. "I don't think anybody wants to really pull at that string."
"I totally understand."
Suddenly, the peace was broken. "Well, hello, my granddaughter. I didn't expect to see you here."
Colleen cut her eyes at Dawson before they both turned around.
"Hi, Grandma. I was just dropping by to give Dawson a guest list for the masquerade ball."
"Sounds fancy. I'll be looking forward to that."
“That's still a couple of weeks away. Don't you think you might be in your own place by then?"
SuAnn pulled out a chair from one of the tables and sat down. She waved her hand at Colleen. "There's no hurry. Besides, I'm sure Dawson appreciates me helping to pay his bills around here."