She was his favorite person in the world, but maybe it was a mistake to not be more stern.At least on occasion.
Now might be such an occasion.“Until you understand how serious this is and how wrong it is, you’re grounded.”
“Grounded?What does that even mean?”
“It means that you’re in trouble.You can’t go out with your friends —”
“What!For how long?”she shrieked.“That’s not fair!”
“What’s unfair is you putting up pictures of me like cattle for sale!”
“Well, how else are you going to find a wife if you don’t get out there?”
This again.Last year, she’d decided he needed to start dating again.Then it escalated to him needing to get married.
He’d thought she just wanted to plan a wedding and wear a pretty dress, so he had taken her out to a fundraising event and thought that’d be the end of it.
“I’m not looking for a wife,” he said.“I don’t know what got this into your head, but this isn’t how things are done.And you can’t force me into anything – this is my life, Bella.”
“It’smylife too.I’ve never had a mom, and maybe I want one!”
“You have a mom,” he said, much louder than intended.
She was quiet, arms crossed over her chest.“Not a living one.”
His jaw clenched.Ever since becoming a teenager, she’d found a way to make words sting like never before.
“I’ve always given you everything you needed,” he said, regaining control of his volume.
“Except for a mom,” she snapped.
A weight sunk in his chest.“What’s wrong with it being you and me?”
She sighed and rolled her eyes.“You’re not even listening to me.Youneverlisten.”
That was so far from the truth he couldn’t think of a response.He pulled up to the house and as soon as he had stopped the car, Bella got out and ran, slamming the front door behind her.
Miles shook his head, muttering a request to his late wife.“Give me the patience to survive this, Madeline.”
Five
After a rainy weekend, October gifted them a beautiful week – dark blue skies painted with clouds so blindingly white Margie could barely withstand their glare.
The air was crisp and perfect, the wind cutting through her still damp hair as she hurried into the tea shop.
“Sorry I’m late,” Margie called out as she walked in, the door jingling to announce her arrival.
Warmth engulfed her, along with the smell of bergamot and cinnamon.The tea shop was quiet, save for a table of teenage girls sitting in the Japanese-themed room.
“I just got back from Annie’s,” Margie added as she pulled off her coat.
“You’re never late,” Patty said, emerging from the kitchen with an apron tied around her waist and a three-tiered stand of treats in her hands.Apple turnovers, cucumber finger sandwiches, and some assortment of cookie bites.Delightful.
The long-time proprietor of the tea shop, Patty wasn’t showing any signs of slowing down in her eighth decade of life.It helped, of course, that her daughter-in-law Sheila had moved to the island to help a few years prior.Sheila liked to joke that she’d made out like the devil in her divorce – she got to keep the houseandshe got to keep her mother-in-law.
“What were you doing at Annie’s?”Sheila asked.
She sat at a nearby table, pouring tea from a beautiful pink-and-gold teapot.
