I sighed. "William called me out of the blue right before I came over."
"What did he want? Are the kids okay?"
I nodded. "They were fine. Annoyingly so. William was calling to apologize, of all the ridiculous notions. He's probably wanting to try and get out of something."
"Is that what he said?"
"No. He just apologized."
"You know, Winter. Not everyone is always out with malicious intent. Some people actually want to be real and kind."
"When has William been real and kind?"
"He was once."
"When he wasn't partying."
She waved her hand. "You two got married too young. Neither of you was ready to settle down and be parents. I'm not surprised it went the way it did."
Neither was anyone else, honestly.
Even me, when I stopped to think about it.
"Regardless, I don't have time for his nonsense. Or Shaun's wounded ego. I have to take care of you."
"Me? Why on earth do you think you have to take care of me?"
"Because, Mom, that's what I do. I make sure you're taken care of."
She pursed her lips together and glared at me.
I tucked all my papers away and bundled up the money bag. "Mom."
"You ran him off, didn't you?'
"I told him we didn't have a future."
"Are you so certain?"
"I don't have time for being hopeful. I have a salon to run."
“You make it sound like running a salon is the end-all, be-all of existence.”
“Isn’t that what you wanted? A salon that was the epitome of a perfect, pleasurable oasis in the middle of Barrum?”
“That sounds like a whorehouse.”
I rolled my eyes. “Point is, you wanted a wonderful salon. So I’m making it happen.”
“But at what cost?”
“The salon is everything to me,” I replied.
“Why?” she asked.
I blinked. “Because. It is.”
“But why, Winter? Why do you care so much about it?”
