A Magnolia Friendship - Anne-Marie Meyer Page 0,1

holding my life together. Eventually I was going to snap—and I couldn’t afford to snap.

Not right now.

So I jabbed him the ribs, causing him to flinch and pull back. I took his moment of weakness as my signal to move and spun away. Just as I stopped myself on the counter perpendicular to him, Clementine let out a cheer. I glanced over at her to see her grinning in my direction.

“Perfect spin-out,” she said, motioning toward me.

I scoffed as I glanced around, but my cheeks heated from her praise. There was no hiding the fact that I had two left feet when it came to anything dancing related. So the fact that Clementine gave me a compliment—even if I doubted her words—made me feel embarrassed.

As if she sensed my unease, Clementine cleared her throat and smiled over at Jake. “Well, we should get going,” she said as she made her way over and linked arms with me. She peeked over at me, and I nodded.

“Yeah, we don’t want to be late.” I eyed my brother. “Think you can handle this?”

Jake laughed as he made his way over to Bella and picked her up, slinging her over his shoulder. She squealed with excitement as her hand moved to grip the back of his shirt. “I think we’ll be fine.” He bumped his shoulder, causing Bella to bounce.

Her giggle turned into a shrill, and I attempted to shush her, but that was like trying to stop a raging river with a stick. He was riling her up, and I knew if I was going to enjoy my evening without worrying about my children, I needed to leave.

With my stilettos in hand, I followed Clementine as she led the way to the back door. Before I stepped outside, I turned to meet Jake’s gaze. “Do something with the monster,” I mouthed as I nodded toward Tag’s room.

I thought things with Tag were hard when Craig was around, but I had been kidding myself. They were ten times worse now that he was no longer here. I didn’t know if Tag felt as if his father’s absence meant he didn’t need to respect me or if I’d failed him completely as his mother—but things were bad.

He was refusing to speak to me, and most of the time I couldn’t get him out of his room. Hopefully with me gone, his beloved uncle Jake would be able to talk some sense into the kid. And maybe convince him to take a shower. The room was beginning to smell like a hazard area—I was going to have to condemn it any day now.

Jake gave me a quick nod. I felt a tad relieved and hopeful that he was going to get further than I’d been able to. I turned and headed out to Clementine’s car. We piled in and took off toward the inn.

The group was smaller today. Besides me, Clementine, Maggie, and Victoria, the only other person who joined us was Fiona. She was new to the island and younger. I tried to talk to her a few times, but I ended up feeling ancient. I wouldn’t mind being her friend—if I didn’t feel as if I could somehow be her mother.

Which, when I broke it down, was impossible. I would have to have been fifteen when I gave birth, but still. It was a possibility. A weird and awkward possibility that I preferred not to think about.

With our heels on, we sat around Maggie’s kitchen island while we drank margaritas and ate chips that Clementine had picked up from the local Mexican restaurant. The books we’d brought were stacked on the counter next to us, but it seemed as if no one was really interested in talking about them.

Which, if I were honest with myself, I was completely on board with. A night out with the girls was exactly what I needed.

“How’s the studio going?” Maggie asked as she glanced over at Clementine, who was mid-bite.

She quickly chewed and took a sip of her drink before she responded. “Good. Just finishing up some final touches. We should be ready to open middle of next month.”

We all nodded, and I made a mental note to ask her about classes for Bella. But before anyone could speak, Clementine cleared her throat and her cheeks hinted pink as she peered around at us.

I furrowed my brow, fully understanding what this look meant. Clementine was about to do something devious.

“Actually, I wanted to talk to you ladies about