to you that she did to me. That’s why I drove all the way here to look you in the eye.”
"Buddy, I don't know what you're talking about."
"Now, I don't want to badmouth her, but I have to tell you the truth. Your mother took all of the money out of our savings account and did a bunch of online shopping. We lost everything. Well, all except the house, where I'm still living."
"What? There must be some mistake. My mom has never really even liked shopping."
"Well, she liked it enough to spend all of our savings Nearly thirty thousand dollars.”
Julie grabbed the back of the armchair nearby to keep herself from passing out.
"I'm so sorry. I had no idea.”
"I just didn't want her to steal your money. Don't give her access to your bank accounts or anything."
"What is going on here?"
Julie turned to see her mother standing in the doorway, a look of shock mixed with horror on her face.
"I came here to tell your daughters the truth about you!" Buddy said loudly. Julie couldn't believe he was talking this much. She hadn't heard this many words from him the whole time she’d known him.
"You had no right to come here and fill their head full of bad things about their mother!" SuAnn yelled back.
“Okay, everybody calm down. Let's all just take a deep breath," Julie said.
"What's going on out here?" Janine said as she walked out of her room. Colleen walked out of hers right at the same moment.
“Buddy came here to tell us that Mom stole their savings and spent it doing online shopping."
Janine's mouth fell open. "Is that true, Mom?"
SuAnn held up her hands. "First of all, it's not stealing when half of that money was mine. And second of all, yes. I spent a lot of money because I was so bored and needed some excitement. And it was the wrong thing to do, and I regret it."
"Buddy, I think you should go,” Julie said, ushering him to the door. She couldn't believe he had driven all the way from the mountains to tell her this instead of just calling her on the phone.
"I wish you good luck with that woman," he said to Julie before shutting the door.
"Oh, Mom. How could you do this?" Julie said, running her fingers through her hair.
SuAnn walked over to the sofa and sat down, her hands in her lap. “Maybe you'll never understand, but I'd like to explain. Dawson and Dixie have both told me I need to be honest with you girls."
"You talked to Dawson about this? And Dixie?"
"Dawson doesn't know what I did, but I did tell Dixie the whole story."
"But you don't even like Dixie," Janine said.
SuAnn laughed. "We are more alike than you might think. And we're good now."
“I’m just going to give y'all some time alone," Colleen said, walking backwards slowly to her room and shutting the door.
Julie and Janine sat down on the sofa and turned toward their mother.
"The last few years, I have felt like a hollow shell. When I first met Buddy, I fell in love with his kind, timid personality. To be honest, I just wanted somebody to grow old with, and he seemed like a good fit. Not everybody has the strength to put up with me, ya know. He let me just be free. But as we were married longer and longer, I got bored. I wanted to do things, go places, but it was like pulling teeth. And I just saw the time ticking away. I realized we just weren't right for each other."
"So you spent his money?"
"Our money. And I did. It was a terrible thing to do, but I didn't do it maliciously. Over the course of a year, I just tried to make myself feel better by buying a bunch of stuff. It became like an addiction."
"Why didn't you tell us?" Julie asked.
"You girls were going through your own trials and tribulations at the time. A mother is supposed to take care of herself and not put that on her kids. But then, I saw something amazing happen."
"What?” Julie asked.
SuAnn reached over and held her daughter’s hand. "I saw you bravely leave your life in Atlanta behind and come here to start over. You didn't know anyone, you barely had any money. You were able to create a whole new life."
"Mom, if you were so amazed, then why did you criticize it so much? Why did you try to get me to stay with