The Inn At Seagrove - Rachel Hanna Page 0,36

well. Janine is happy here. She has a successful business, family and friends."

"Honey, we all know that Janine is getting on up in years. She shouldn't have let him leave. There's nothing wrong with moving to Texas and starting a new life."

"You honestly want your daughter to leave when you just got here?"

"Of course not! It would break my heart. But, I want her to be happy. Do you know how many years it's been since I've seen Janine actually happy? And then she finally meets this guy and lets him go!"

"Mom, she's happy. Well, not right now. I mean, right now she's a little sad. But, she had been happy before that.”

“Exactly! She was happy because of that William guy. She needed to follow him."

"You're impossible. Forget about Janine for a minute. The worst of your egregious behaviors lately was in the form of you telling Meg to stop going to her group sessions?”

"I didn't exactly say it like that. I told her to stop airing her dirty laundry in public. It's just not classy to tell everybody your problems like that. People are very judgmental, you know.“

Julie sucked in another long breath and blew it out, trying to get her heart rate down. "She’s struggling with postpartum depression."

"I don't really know what that is. I think I saw a Dr. Phil episode about that one time. Or maybe it was Oprah many years ago?"

Julie slapped her hands together in front of her mother’s face. "Listen to me! My daughter… that's right, she's my daughter, not yours… is struggling with depression. You have no idea how bad it's been. Her doctor recommended a treatment plan that included group counseling, and it's helping her. You need to keep your big mouth shut about it, you hear me?"

SuAnn stared at her. She had never heard Julie talk to her quite like that. For a moment, Julie almost felt guilty, but she knew it was warranted and very much needed if her mother was ever going to change her behavior. If somebody didn't knock some sense into her, she was going to ruin everything Julie had built in her new home.

SuAnn’s eyes watered a bit, but she quickly used the back of her hand to wipe away the tears before they fell.

"I'm sorry you're so upset at me."

Julie sighed. "Really, Mom? You do understand that's not an actual apology, right?"

"I don't know what you want from me. I'm just trying to help my family. You know, I do have the benefit of many years of living. I'm supposed to be passing along my wisdom."

That made Julie laugh, although her mother didn't seem to mean it as a joke.

"Mom, I know you think you mean well, but the things you say to people are sometimes very hurtful. We all just got used to you being critical over the years, but these are my kids. And that's my sister. And I won't have you saying things that could potentially disrupt their lives."

SuAnn ran her hands down the front of her apron, smoothing it out, and then stood tall. "Well, it sounds like my own family doesn't really want me here in this town."

"Your family wants to have a relationship with you, but not this way. If you can't treat us with more respect and stop interjecting your opinions into our lives, then maybe we won't have a relationship." There, she’d said it. Out loud.

"Well, I'm sorry you feel that way."

Julie rolled her eyes and shook her head before turning for the door. She unlocked it and pulled it open, looking back at her mother who was standing there, staring at her feet.

"We all love you. But, love doesn't mean anything without respect."

With that, she walked out the door and wondered whether her relationship with her mother was over.

Chapter Ten

As hard as Janine had tried over the years with all of her meditation and yoga and New Age spiritual thinking, she still had a lot of pride. And stubbornness.

As she sat there on the bench overlooking the marsh, she stared down at her phone, her thumb hovering over William's face.

It would be really easy to send a text, ask him how he was doing. He’d been gone for over three weeks now. All she had to do was press the button and act breezy. Act like she didn't really care and was just his friend. Act like she hadn't been consuming massive amounts of ice cream and potato chips every night while lying in a