You absolutely do not. Nothing beyond honesty.” Suzannah came farther into the room and wrapped her daughter in a one-armed hug, rubbing a hand up and down Avery’s upper bicep. “And I think the two of you already have a good start in that direction.”
“It’s just…” Avery paused, not even sure she knew how to phrase what she wanted to say. It was that precipice thing. One wrong step and…splat!
“Just what?” Suzannah encouraged, reaching up to tuck a fall of hair behind Avery’s ear.
Avery moved to sit in one of the dining room’s shaker pine chairs; her mother followed suit. “I think about what you had with Daddy, and it makes me sad that you lost that. I know I can’t fill his shoes—”
Suzannah gasped. “Avery Marie! Do not tell me that you have been putting your own life on hold for five years now because of me.”
Avery glanced up sharply, unsure whether she’d ever seen such a stern expression cross her mother’s face. Not even when Suzannah had called down disruptive students in class. Or when she’d been presented with Avery’s ruined—and pricey—cheerleading uniform top.
“Of course, I haven’t,” Avery hedged, recalling for the first time how much of her comfort level had to do with familiarity. And how she’d been loath to taking chances since that night fifteen years ago. “It’s just that lately the boom in the bakery’s business has been eating into what little social life I did have.”
Suzannah wasn’t buying it. “And breaking your engagement to Tom? Not even a month after your father’s passing?”
“Tom and I wanted different things out of life. It shouldn’t have taken us as long as it did to figure that out.”
At least, that was the truth, though her mother’s emotional state had played a part in her decision to end the engagement. She’d been with Tom two years, yet she had been unable to picture herself ever mourning him the way her mother had mourned the loss of her father.
It had taken that enormous heartbreak for her to recognize the crux of all her relationship issues before and since. She wanted the life her mother had lived with her father. That perfect pairing. That ideal match. That rare coupling of souls that happened but once in a lifetime. She’d been afraid for so long that she would never know such bliss.
For the past forty-eight hours, however, she’d been more afraid that she was going to find she couldn’t have what she wanted with a man when their history, and David’s “ruined life” comment—even if made in jest—factored in.
Sighing, Suzannah turned her chair so that Avery’s and her knees met. “Avery, listen to me. I’ve wanted to say this to you for a very long time, but I hate the idea of butting into your life. Your father and I raised you to be independent and we always respected your decisions, even when we didn’t necessarily agree with them.”
“But?” Avery asked, because she sensed a really big but on the way.
“But you must stop living in the past.” When Avery opened her mouth to interrupt, her mother shushed her and went on. “I’ve suspected as much for some time now. I love our Saturday mornings together, but I know for a fact that Cicely Linden has invited you more than once to go shopping at Canton.”
Avery didn’t know what to say. She’d put off her good friend repeatedly even though a trip to the North Texas antiques bazaar was so incredibly tempting. She’d thought of asking her mother to come along….
“Avery?”
She glanced up at her mother. “It’s not that big of a deal.”
“It’s that big of a deal to me.” Suzannah took hold of her daughter’s hands, rubbing her thumbs over the backs of Avery’s fingers. “I feel horribly responsible that somehow I’m holding you back. That you’re living in the past out of a misplaced loyalty to me.”
“You’re my mother. How could any loyalty I have to you be misplaced?” Avery asked, feeling torn between her own feelings and the truth her mother spoke.
Suzannah’s expression grew solemn. “If it’s keeping you from living your life fully, then that’s exactly what it is. Let me ask you this. Would you want me to remain static the rest of my life out of my loyalty to you?”
“Of course not,” Avery answered, squeezing her mother’s hands. “I want you to be happy.”
“Which I am. Very.” Suzannah smiled brightly.
Avery’s smile was dim in comparison. “Besides, you’re hardly remaining static, not with all the coming