“Marriage is such an antiquated concept.”
“You sound bitter and ignorant,” Dawn told her.
“Tell me how you really feel,” Zoe quipped.
“I feel like you’ll be a lot happier when you let your walls down a bit.”
“Maybe. But I can let my walls down without selling myself into marriage.”
Dawn rolled her eyes. “Now really…”
“What’s wrong with marriage?” asked Claire.
“It was literally just created to sell women into slavery,” Zoe told her sister.
“That’s absurd,” said their grandmother.
“Exactly,” Zoe said, deliberately misunderstanding her. “What an absurd concept.”
“You’ll change your tune once you find a good man.”
“How very antiquated.”
“I mean it.” Dawn fixed her with a steady blue gaze. “Your grandfather was my good right arm. My better half. A life lived alone is a life half lived.”
“Men are more trouble than they’re worth.”
“Only the bad ones.”
“They’re all bad, Gran. At least the guys my age.”
“How would you know? You’ve never given any of them a chance.”
“I’m fine as I am, thanks.”
“But are you happy?”
“Halia doesn’t date, and she’s the steadiest of any of us. Look at all the women who wind up at her shelter. Look at Laurie. Men are bad news. Anne knows it.”
Anne winced. She hated hearing her daughter call her by her first name.
“Don’t you, Anne?” Zoe taunted her.
“How can you lump them all together?” she asked quietly. “You grew up with Kimo. You and your dad are buddies. There are plenty of good men.”
“I don’t know about plenty. There are a few. Maybe. I’ve never met one my age that’s worth anything.”
“In all your vast and worldly experience?” Dawn challenged.
Zoe smirked. “You’re mean today.”
“You’re mean every day,” Claire muttered. Anne stepped between her daughters, heading off a retort from Zoe – but she was still looking at her grandmother.
“I know you got a good one. But they don’t make them like that anymore. There’s nobody like Grandpa left in the world, and you know it.”
“I can’t argue with that.”
“See!”
