heard it, she didn't act like it.
Dawson had never been so thankful for chewing. As long as he kept her chewing, she wasn't talking. He and Lucy talked about things that he’d done or needed to do around the property, and every time it seemed like SuAnn might get to say something, he passed her another dish of food, hoping she would just continue eating.
"I'm as full as a tick," she finally said. Dang. Now she was going to talk for sure.
"So, how was your trip here? Dawson tells me you're from the north Georgia mountains?"
SuAnn wiped her mouth and took another sip of sweet tea. "It's a long, boring drive. But, there wasn't nearly as much traffic as I had feared."
"Your husband decided to stay behind?" Dawson asked.
She looked down at her plate for a moment and then cleared her throat. He seemed to have touched a nerve. "He's got some issues with his legs. Long car rides are difficult for him."
"But wasn't he here at Christmas?"
She nodded slightly. "To be honest, I needed a little alone time. Marriage does that to people, you know."
He had a feeling there was more going on then she was letting on, but he decided not to poke the bear.
"Well, I'm sure you're tired from your long trip. Feel free to enjoy your room. You don't have to stay down here on our account."
She looked down at her watch. "But it's only seven-thirty. I'm old, but certainly not old enough to go to bed at this hour."
Great. She was planning on staying up and interacting with him. "I definitely wasn't saying that you're old. There’s a TV in your room inside the armoire. We're connected to satellite, so we’ve got all kinds of channels."
"I don't really watch TV. I find it makes the mind kind of like mush. There's been lots of studies on that."
Dawson looked at Lucy like he was hoping she would have a better idea, but she ended up leaving him in the lurch. "Well, I better be getting in the kitchen. I have a lot of preparing to do for the week."
"Don't you need my help?" Dawson asked, hopefully.
Lucy stood up and walked toward the door to the kitchen. “No. You need to spend some time with your first guest. I wouldn't dream of intruding on that."
When she got on the other side of the kitchen door, she smiled slyly at Dawson out of view. He was going to get her back for this.
Chapter Seven
Julie had been in a rush all day. She had stayed up late last night, talking to Janine and trying to encourage her to reach out to William. She hated to see her give up a relationship that had been so good for the both of them.
She also spent a good hour on the phone with Meg, encouraging her to keep believing that things were going to get better. She would start on her hormonal treatments that week, and she would have her first group counseling session soon. Julie felt confident that her daughter was going to get back on the right track soon.
After working most of the morning at the bookstore, she had contacted Janine, Colleen and Meg and invited them to eat lunch with her on the square. They didn't get nearly enough time together, just chatting and spending time talking. That “girl time” was becoming more important to her as she got older.
Thankfully, they had all agreed. Most of the time, she met Dawson for lunch, but she was quite sure he was busy at the inn, interacting with his first guest. She hadn't had a chance to talk to him today, so she shot him at a quick text message telling him that she hoped everything was going well and that she would touch base with him that evening on her way home from work.
Dawson was good about letting her have time with her family and friends. He never tried to encroach upon that like Michael did. Michael had always hated when she had lunch dates with her friends, somehow thinking that meant that she didn't want to spend time with him. Now she didn’t feel nearly as guilty as she used to about that.
"Glad you could make it," Julie said to Meg as she walked up, pushing the stroller with Vivi inside. Christian had to work, so Meg was on her own, which was another reason why Julie wanted to spend some time with her today.
"Me too. I think I