Page 41 of Return to Rosewood Beach

For a few more minutes, Hazel and Vivian worked quietly in the kitchen together. Vivian helped set the table for breakfast while Hazel finished making the waffles and cut up fresh strawberries into thin slices. Vivian was lost in thought as they worked. She wanted to make Alexis feel better, and she kept wondering what she could do to lift her daughter’s spirits.

“Good morning!”

Samantha sashayed into the kitchen, followed by Alexis. They were both smiling, and Vivian’s heart lifted with relief when she saw that her daughter was feeling better.

“Good morning.” Hazel gave Samantha a hug, and then gave Alexis one as well. “How are you both feeling?”

“Great.” Samantha slid into a chair at the kitchen table. “Wow, these waffles smell amazing.”

“I feel better.” Alexis gave Vivian and Hazel a watery smile. “Samantha cheered me up.”

Hazel gave her daughter a high-five. “That’s my girl. Way to go. You’re a sweetheart to help your aunt out like that.”

Samantha smiled, looking happy. Then she noticed the time on the clock hanging on the wall behind her mother’s shoulder and gasped. “Oh, shoot! I overslept. The bus is going to be here in a couple of minutes.”

Hazel sprang into action. “Take a waffle,” she said, sliding one into a Ziploc bag. “I’ll save you a couple so you can have them with the strawberries and whipped cream when you come home.”

“Amazing, thanks, Mom!” Samantha grabbed the Ziploc bag, threw her backpack on over her shoulder, and hurried out the back door. “Bye, everybody!”

“Bye!” they all called, even though the door had swung shut behind her already.

“That girl is a treasure,” Hazel said fondly, bringing the bowl of freshly cut strawberries over to the kitchen table. “Come on, you two, let’s eat these waffles while they’re hot. There’s nothing better than waffles with strawberries and whipped cream for breakfast, if I do say so myself.”

Vivian smiled at her daughter, thinking to herself that Hazel was a treasure as well. If she remembered correctly, Hazel’s favorite breakfast food was a skillet with plenty ofbacon, potatoes, and cheese, and waffles with strawberries and whipped cream was Alexis’s favorite breakfast food.

The three of them sat down at the table together, and for a few minutes, they ate in comfortable silence. The waffles were deliciously light and fluffy, and the strawberries added a pleasantly tangy flavor to the sweetness of the whipped cream.

“I know you’re both trying to cheer me up,” Alexis said finally, looking up from her food and smiling at her mother and sister. “I appreciate it, I really do.”

Vivian reached over and squeezed her daughter’s hand. “Whenever you feel ready to tell us about it, we’re here to listen. We love you so much, Alexis.”

“Thanks, Mom.” Alexis blinked back a few tears. “I love you both so much too. I don’t know what I’d do if I had to face this without my family.”

“Well, you don’t have to.” Hazel gave her a reassuring smile. “We’re here for you.”

Alexis smiled back at her, and then let out a long sigh. “I would like to talk about it, but I hardly know where to begin.”

“When did you first feel that your relationship was getting rocky?” Vivian asked gently.

“Oh, it all seemed to happen gradually. At first, I convinced myself that it would just be a temporary thing. He’d get so busy with work and brush off our date nights. At first, he tried to reschedule them, but then he stopped doing that. We—we’ve just been drifting apart. He doesn’t have time for me anymore, and he doesn’t make time. We don’t talk like we used to, and no matter what I’ve tried or said, it hasn’t gotten better. I—I think I’m losing him.” Her voice cracked on her last words, and she covered her face with her hands.

Hazel and Vivian exchanged a troubled glance. As much as she hated the idea, Vivian had to admit to herself that it looked as though Alexis’s marriage with Grayson was coming to an end.

“It’s all going to be okay.” Hazel stood up and walked around the table to her sister. She gave her a hug. “I remember feeling like how you do now when Simon and I decided to get a divorce. At the time, I felt like my world was ending and I didn’t think I’d ever really be happy again. But I was so wrong. There’s life after heartbreak. There really is.”

Alexis hiccupped, nodding. “Thank you. I know you’re right, but I—well, it still doesn’t feel that way.”

“I know.” Hazel sighed as she returned to her chair. “You’ll just have to give it time. But when it feels hard, remind yourself that you’re going to feel so much joy again.”

Vivian felt tears rise to her eyes as she reflected that Hazel’s advice was good for her to hear as well.

“I also want to apologize for how we handled last night,” Hazel said. “Julia and I, I mean. We got carried away, trying to come up with a plan, and I’m sorry if we seemed insensitive.”

Alexis shook her head. “You couldn’t have known. I tried to keep it a secret. I—I didn’t want to tell anyone. I was hoping I would never have to. I was hoping that Grayson would start to fight for our marriage and that no one would ever know we’d been struggling. But I have to face the music, and the reality is that we’re slipping further and further away from each other.”

Alexis stared down at her plate for a few heartbeats, and a tear rolled down her cheek. Hazel and Vivian exchanged another worried look.

“Things will be all right,” Vivian said, wishing with all her might that she could somehow just snap her fingers and make everything okay again for her daughter. “You have us. We’re going to support you through this.”

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