She’d become pregnant with Caitlin sometime in the next five or six months and had given birth the following year.
Would Nat have written any of that in her journal? If so, Olivia wasn’t sure it was appropriate reading material for a fifteen-year-old girl. She didn’t quite know how to navigate these treacherous waters. Not when she and Caitlin were barely on speaking terms.
“You know,” she said carefully, “if you want to know about your mother, you can ask me or Mimi. I said that before to you and I meant it. We could tell you more than you will read in her journal. Those are her thoughts, maybe. Her perspective. And that’s great. But you could also ask others who loved her.”
“You didn’t love her,” Caitlin snapped. “You hated her. That’s what she said in her journal. You told her you didn’t want to be her sister anymore.”
The accusation sliced through her, sharp and vicious. She could remember that very conversation, right here in this kitchen, those ugly words spilling out between them.
She closed her eyes, guilt and sorrow a tangled mess in her heart. “I did say that. I said a lot of things in anger that year. I would say I had reasons but none of that matters now. For what it’s worth, it wasn’t true when I said it and it’s not true now. I adored Natalie. She was my only sister, and for a long time, I wanted to be just like her.”
“Too bad you couldn’t have bothered to tell her that when she was alive. When it might have made a difference,” Caitlin snapped, then scooped up her bag along with the journal and rushed out of the kitchen.
As soon as she left, Olivia closed her laptop, knowing she wouldn’t get any work done now, when her heart was aching with memories of the sister she had loved and how everything had changed after their father died.
20
OLIVIA
She was a freaking genius.
To be fair, Cooper had actually been the one to suggest she hire his sister to help out at the garden center, but Olivia had been the one who had instantly known it would be a fantastic idea.
She had only been on the job a few days, but it was already clear Melody was a natural and Juliet should have hired her years ago.
She knew where to find everything in the garden center before she even started, she was fantastic with the customers and she had more gardening knowledge than most of the part-time staff combined.
With her help, there was a chance Olivia might be able to keep the garden center afloat long enough for Juliet to return to work.
“Thank you for stepping in and helping Mrs. Palmer,” she said after Melody returned from helping a customer load new plants into her vehicle. “I didn’t have the first idea how to help her pick out those irises she wanted. You are straight-up amazing at this.”
Melody’s features already seemed brighter, her eyes happier than they had been since Olivia had returned to Cape Sanctuary.
“I have to tell you, I am loving this job. I had no idea how much I was missing adult interaction. I love my boys. Don’t get me wrong. But some days I’m afraid that if I have to pretend I give a darn about the Star Wars universe one more minute, my head is going to turn into the Death Star.”
Olivia had to smile. “I’m so happy you’re enjoying it so far.”
“What’s not to love? There’s nothing better than talking to other people with a passion for flowers.”
Okay, she got the whole Star Wars thing, but had to admit that Melody lost her at flowers. She loved them, of course. They were gorgeous. Who didn’t? But she much preferred them arranged in a lovely vase than growing in a garden.
In her perfect world, flowers grew abundantly without any care needed. Of course, then her mother’s garden center would probably be out of business.
“How is Charlie doing with day care?”
“It’s only a few days a week. My friend Penny, whose son is Charlie’s best friend, offered to take him when she can.”
“Is that where he is today?”
“Actually, Cooper had the day off today and offered to hang out with him.”
She had not seen Cooper since the night of Melody’s birthday party. She had been doing her best to put him out of her mind, which was proving much more difficult than she had expected.