Blackout After Dark (Gansett Island #21) - Marie Force Page 0,4

Linda said, tending to both kids as they made a disastrous mess with the half-size ice cream sandwiches.

“Who are deeply bonded to you, Carolina, Seamus, their aunts, uncles, cousins, friends. Not to mention how bonded we are to everyone.” Despite her great desire to have this conversation without them, tears slid down her cheeks anyway. “It’s going to be really hard to leave.”

“It’ll be hard for us to see you go,” Linda said, “but don’t worry about the kids. They’ll be fine as long as they have you and Joe. Years from now, they won’t remember being away from here. They’ll only remember the love they always had from everyone around them.”

“I know, and we’ve talked about that. They’re too little to realize they won’t see you guys or the others for a while, and that’s a blessing.”

“That’s why I encouraged Janey to do this now,” Joe said. “They’re still young enough to roll with it. When PJ starts school, that’ll complicate things even more.”

“That’s very true,” Big Mac said. “I remember making vacation plans after Mac started school without giving a thought to the fact that he couldn’t go then. It was a huge shock to our system that we couldn’t do whatever we wanted anymore. You’re wise to get this done before that’s a factor. And if I could just add… I can’t wait to call you Dr. Cantrell. I’ve been waiting a long time for that.”

“I know you have.” Her dad had been furious with her ex-fiancé, David Lawrence, when he’d talked her out of going to vet school after college. David had made the argument that paying off loans for med school and vet school would kill them financially. “And Doc Potter is getting closer to retiring whether I’m ready to take over the practice or not. He sort of gave me a bit of an ultimatum this summer. He said, ‘If it can’t be you, Janey, it’s gonna have to be someone before too much longer.’”

“After he said that,” Joe added, “I asked Janey how she’d feel about someone else taking over Doc’s practice. That sort of got her seriously thinking about finishing school.”

“I keep telling myself it’s only two more years, but that seems like a lifetime right now. I’m homesick, and we haven’t even left yet.”

“You’ve always been such a homebody,” Big Mac said. “Remember how you wanted to come home every weekend when you were at UConn?”

“I do, and I remember how mean you were, because you wouldn’t let me.”

“For two reasons. One, I had to go get you, which meant leaving my precious island to drive two hours each way, and two, I wanted you to make friends there and enjoy the college experience.”

“I did make friends there, and I did enjoy the college experience, but this is the first I’m hearing that your precious island was more important than your precious daughter.”

“She got you there, hon,” Linda said, laughing.

“Now you know very well that nothing was or is more precious to me than my precious daughter, but I wasn’t going to Connecticut to get you every weekend—and then taking you back two days later.”

“Instead, you made me suffer away from my beloved island.”

“I saw the pictures you sent your mother. You were not suffering. It’s a wonder any schooling got done.”

Janey could’ve play-bickered with her father all night, but Vivienne had a meltdown that led to Joe scooping her up to get her out of there before PJ could start up, too.

Linda produced a wipe from somewhere and had the kids cleaned up in no time.

That was just one of many reasons she’d miss her mother. Both her parents had a way of pitching in right where they were needed before Janey even knew she needed them. And then she was sobbing all over her mother.

“I’m such a big baby,” she said, sniffling.

Linda patted her back and held her the way she had since Janey was a little girl with a skinned knee. “You’re doing the right thing, sweetheart. Even though it’s hard right now, you’ll be so glad you did it.” She pulled back and pushed the hair from Janey’s face. “Think about what an amazing example you’ll be setting for your own daughter by showing her there’s no limit to what she can do if she dreams big and works hard.”

“Your mom is right, Princess,” Big Mac said. “It broke our hearts when David talked you out of vet school the first time around, and we understood why