“She will, and it’s a nice gesture.” Mary hugged Jules.
“I’m going to visit her at Tall Pines. I just hope I don’t run into Maddie or Gina.”
Maddie and Gina were the cousins that she’d run the Surfstone Motel with. She hadn’t seen them since they’d parted ways on that last day when they’d had to close the motel and didn’t want to see them now.
“It might not be a bad idea to make amends,” Mary suggested. “Let bygones be bygones.”
Jules got the impression from the faraway look in Mary’s eyes that she was talking more about her own past with her daughter than Jules’s past with her cousins. Her heart ached for her aunt. She knew Mary missed Carolyn terribly, no matter how much Jules and her mother tried to fill the gap. She wasn’t even sure what had happened between them. Something about Mary’s divorce and her ex poisoning Carolyn against her.
But the falling-out with Maddie and Gina was different. It had been all their fault. Okay, so maybe Jules had made a few bad decisions when it came to the motel, too, but the failure had come down mostly to her cousins’ stubbornness. She could never forgive them. They’d ruined her dream.
“That was nice of Andie to pick through her inventory for you.” Mary grabbed a broom and started sweeping up errant hairs.
Jules glanced across the street at the antiques store. “It was. Do you think she knows we set up that meeting with Shane?”
Mary laughed. “Maybe, but I don’t think she minds. Did you see her face when he suggested they get together?”
“They looked like teenagers.”
“I just hope he follows through.”
“I heard from Sally that Andie is having some repairs done at the Thompson house. Maybe I’ll suggest that Sally have Shane help her out. They work together a lot anyway,” Mary said.
“Good idea.” Jules carefully wrapped the china figures back in the velvet. “I think after their history Shane and Andie need all the help they can get.”
Mary nodded. “Yes, some people do need a push.”
Jules’s gaze jerked from the package of dolls to her aunt. Mary was looking at her intently, as if she was referring to Jules. “What?”
Mary gestured to the salon. “You know this isn’t your passion. Oh, you do a great job, and you’re welcome to work here as long as you like. But I want to see you happy.”
“I’m happy.”Sort of.
“Uh-huh. But I think there was a time when you were happier.”
“Not really.” There actually was, but that was when she was running the motel, and the horrible ending outweighed the happy times.
“Just remember, you only have one life, and you need to live it to your fullest.”
“Yes, Auntie,” Jules teased.
Mary made a face, and her hand flew to her chest. “Oh.”
“What is it?” Jules practically dropped the figures.
Mary took a deep breath then burped and waved her off. “Sorry, just indigestion.”
Jules breathed a sigh of relief. That was the second time she’d seen her aunt clutching her chest like that, and it was scary.
Mary started tidying the reception desk. “Think about what I said. Don’t waste your life in here if there is something else you should be doing. Remember, where there’s a will, there’s a way.”
Truth was Jules thought about that all the time. She had loved running the motel, but she didn’t have the money to buy one or the credit to get a loan. Even if she did, she doubted she would go through with buying one because the biggest thing stopping her was that she was terrified she’d fail at it again.
Mary watched Jules out of the corner of her eye as she put the pencils back in the mason jar and straightened the appointment book so that it was exactly parallel to the edge of the desk. Sure, everything was on the computer these days, but Mary still liked an old-fashioned paper appointment book too.
Jules’s expression belied her inner turmoil. She’d been scarred by the whole failure with the motel and had lost her confidence. She was a smart girl and a loving grand-niece, and Mary wanted her to have a good life. She didn’t think that cutting hair was going to accomplish that.
Mary was lucky. She’d known what she wanted and gone for it. Of course that had caused a rift in her marriage and her eventual divorce, but now looking back, she realized her marriage hadn’t been all that solid to begin with. It had been for the best. The fallout from that was the regrettable estrangement from her daughter. If she’d known that would happen, she might not have taken this path.
