"Am I?" Evie asked, her tone bitter. She could feel the lump in her throat growing, threatening to choke her. "Because from where I'm sitting, it feels like I'm failing at everything."
Posy leaned forward, her eyes fierce. "Evie Montgomery, you listen to me right now. You are not a failure. You're a single mom running a successful business while raising an amazing little boy. Do you have any idea how incredible that is?"
Evie shook her head, unable to meet her friend's gaze. She focused instead on her tea, watching the steam curl up from the mug.
“Well, let me tell you, right now. There are kids with both parents, who live in their own fancy houses, who don’t have it half as good as Ollie does.”
"It's true," Iris chimed in, her usual brusque tone softened with affection. "You've overcome so much this past year. And Ollie? That boy adores you," Iris continued. "I see how his face lights up when you walk into a room. And the way he talks about you? It's clear you're his whole world."
Evie's throat tightened. She wanted to believe them, but the doubts still gnawed at her. "But what about all the time I'm not there? All the things I'm missing?"
"Every parent feels that way sometimes," Marigold said gently. "But you're doing the best you can in a difficult situation. And Ollie knows that."
Evie scoffed. “He’s five. Of course he doesn’t know that!”
Posy squeezed her shoulder. “He knows he’s loved! That’s the most important thing of all. He has a stable home and security. Yes, things are different, but as long as he has you, that’s all he really needs.”
Evie took a shaky breath, trying to let their words sink in. She glanced around the kitchen, taking in the mess of flour and baking sheets. Had she really been hiding here for days, wallowing in self-pity?
"I've been so stupid," she murmured, more to herself than the others.
"Not stupid," Posy corrected firmly. "Just human. We all have moments of doubt, Evie. But that's why we have friends - to remind us of who we are when we forget."
“And if those three boys don’t know how lucky any of them would be to have your affection, then they have less brains than I’ve given them credit for,” Marigold added.
Evie felt the flicker of a smile at Shepherd, Asher and Gabe being referred to as ‘boys’, and felt a rush of affection for thesewomen, who had come barging in to rescue her from herself. Tears pricked at her eyes, but for the first time in days, they weren't tears of self-pity or shame.
"I don't know what I'd do without you all," Evie said softly, managing a wobbly smile.
"Well, you'll never have to find out," Posy declared, pulling Evie into a tight hug. The others quickly joined in, enveloping Evie in a tangled group embrace.
As they pulled apart, Evie took a deep breath, feeling some of the tension she'd been carrying start to ease. She wasn't magically fixed - there was still a lot to deal with - but for the first time in days, she felt like maybe, just maybe, she could face it after all.
Chapter
Eleven
GABE
“You three ought to be ashamed of yourselves!”
It wasn’t often that three grown men got a dressing down from three indomitable septuagenarians who were almost old enough to be their grandmothers.
“Do you know how much you’ve upset that poor girl?”
“As if she doesn’t have enough to deal with because of that selfish ex-husband of hers!”
“She’s locked herself away in that big old house, all on her own, and we had to stage an intervention!”
“She hasn’t even ventured out to the bakery unless it’s after dark, and you know how much she loves that place.”
Iris, Marigold and Bee. No sooner had one of them stopped to take a breath than one of the others chimed in with their two pennies’ worth. Gabe couldn’t keep up with who was saying what, but that didn’t really matter to them as long as they got their point across.
He exchanged glances with Shepherd, but none of them were stupid enough to interrupt.
Gabe felt like a naughty schoolboy and was pretty certain the other two did as well.
How the three matriarchs of Frostvale had managed to time cornering them all together, he had no idea, but nothing surprised Gabe with these ladies. They had eyes and ears everywhere and knew everything.
