Vivien laughed weakly. “Not really. Not any more than your decision is a work problem.”
“Ahh.” Lacey lifted a brow. “It’s really about Peter.”
“Bingo.”
Lacey leaned in. “Do you mean to tell me you haven’t told him you’re sorry for giving him the old heave-ho?”
“No,” she said, giving a dry laugh at the expression. “He’s been so busy with Connor. AndHolly.”
“And that bothers you,” Lacey said.
Vivien let out a long breath, wanting to be as honest and self-aware as the young woman sitting across from her.
“Yes. But I know he regretted how that divorce was handled,” she said slowly. “But the question for me is about who or what I think I love.”
“I don’t follow.”
“Am I in love with Detective Peter McCarthy, a fifty-three-year-old divorced father of two with a good heart and a solid foundation for a possible future…or young Peter from the beach, the object of my obsession and crush, the unattainable goal of teen Vivien?”
Lacey tilted her head, considering the question with no thought to mocking it. She got what Vivien was going through, which made her basically the greatest daughter ever.
“If you only loved the memory of him, Mom, you wouldn’t care.”
“I wouldn’t care about what?” Vivien asked.
“About everything—his life, his ex-wife, his sons, your future, your relationship. All of it. You’d just laugh it off, try making out with him once, and move on.” She cringed. “I’d rather not think about you making out, TBH. But the statement stands. You wouldn’t care any more than Uncle Eli cares about Tessa—he crushed on her back in the old Destin days, right?”
“So hard it was embarrassing.”
Lacey laughed. “Oh, to go back in time and watch the glory days unfold.”
“I met a young woman today who wants to do just that for a book she’s writing.” Vivien inched in and stage-whispered, “She wants to read my diaries!”
“And write a book based on them?” Lacey’s voice rose in excitement.
“No, a history of Destin. But you’re right about the memory,” she said. “If it were just that, I’d be like Eli was when Tessa arrived here?—”
“The squatter in the empty house.” Lacey lifted her glass. “Love that woman.”
Vivien laughed at the memory but then grew serious. “When she got here, Eli was affected. Seriously. At first, it was like he couldn’t look at her right in the eye.”
“Did they talk about it?”
“They might have, but the memory of his crush on her was real. It did not turn into a romance, especially not after Kate showed up and those two were attracted like the magnets she creates in her lab.”
Lacey laughed. “My point is made, then. The adult love is different from the teen crush and yours just happens to be on the same person. Peter.”
Vivien sighed. “But I did just get divorced. I’m starting a business. I’m finally independent. None of that has changed.”
Lacey smiled softly. “Sounds familiar, but here’s the thing a wise woman once told me.”
“Yeah?”
She leaned very close. “Know your worth, Vivien Lawson. You’re not just a job or a divorcee or a single mom. You are a beautiful woman with a lot of life ahead. If you love this man, youdeserveto be happy with him.”
Vivien let the words warm her as much as the last sip of wine. “You’re right. But if I tell him, there’s no going back. It’s the…bridge with no return, if you’ll pardon the pun.”
Lacey finished her wine, too. “I might forgive it,” she said wryly. “If you stop with the sports analogies.”
