Page 79 of Escape to the Sun

Her mother thought about it for a moment and finally smiled. “It has been nice.” She looked out toward the ocean. “That Ash, he’s sure something.”

Not that she had any way to know, but her mother had just uttered the biggest understatement of the year. Ash was definitely something. Something she couldn’t even begin to explain. But maybe that was the beauty of it. Maybe she didn’t need to explain Ash or what was going on between them or any of it. Maybe she could just enjoy it and for the first time in her life, understand what love really felt like.

Heather was so lost in her thoughts about Ash, she didn’t realize her mother was staring at her, waiting for an answer to a question she hadn’t heard. “Sorry,” she mumbled. “What did you say?”

Her mother rolled her eyes. “I asked if it was serious.”

“If what was serious?”

“Don’t play coy, Heather. You’re not good at it.”

“No. Seriously. What’s serious?”

Her mother straightened up in her chair and looked at Heather pointedly. “You and Ash. Are the two of you serious?”

Oh. Of course her mother would have gone there right away. She tried to think. They hadn’t kissed or held hands in front of her. Or even looked at each other in any type of way that could be viewed as anything other than friends. Had they?

“Don’t try to figure it out,” her mother said, reading her mind. “I can just see these things, is all. Besides, you two don’t hide it very well. You might as well have just told me.”

Heather was so confused and she didn’t bother trying to hide it. “What do you mean? We didn’t advertise anything. We’ve been very discreet since you’ve—”

“So you admit it?”

Heather smacked her palm to her head. “I guess I do.” She looked at her mom. “Okay. Yes. Ash and I are…well…I guess we’re seeing each other.”

Her mother clucked her tongue. “I already knew that. Is it serious? He’s a nice young man. Very charming.”

She didn’t answer right away. It was hard to know whether her mother was setting her up for a trap, or whether she genuinely wanted to know about Heather and Ash. History would tell Heather that it was a trap, and she would use the information for her own benefit. Whatever that could be. But, that history was from a long time ago. Maybe things had changed. Maybe her mom had changed.

She hoped so.

“I don’t know,” Heather finally answered honestly. “I was kind of hoping to have a minute to sort that out myself.”

“I hope I’m not the reason you haven’t had a chance to sort that out.” Could it be that her mother was actually being reasonable and understanding? “I mean, you clearly had plenty of time to define your relationship before I showed up.” Nope. Heather would have laughed at the irony, but her mother kept talking. “I don’t think it’s a good idea.”

“Wait. What’s not a good idea? You just finished telling me what a nice young man he is. And how charming he was.”

“He is.”

Heather sat up in her chair and stared at her mother. “What are you talking about then?”

“You just got out of a marriage, Heather. It’s never a good idea to jump into anything when a marriage ends.”

She opened her mouth, but the words just wouldn’t come out. Which, as it turned out, was fine considering her mother wasn’t done providing her unsolicited opinion.

“When a marriage ends, it’s like a death, Heather.”

As if she’s suddenly an expert.

“You need time to grieve the end of the relationship. You need time to figure out who you are and what you really want out of life. You need at least a year.”

“A year?” She managed to sputter out the words. “I need a year? One whole year to sort myself out and figure out who I am before I can enter into any type of relationship. That’s the magic number?”

Her mom issued a long-suffering sigh. “It’s not a precise number, Heather. Only a guideline. I think it typically takes about a year for a person to go through the process. But it’s not fair to enter into a relationship before you’re ready.”

She sat back and shook her head. “I’m ready, Mom. I’m more than ready.” Just saying the words aloud made her realize it in a way she never had before. She sat up again. “You know what? I’ve been ready for a long time. Long before my marriage with Joe officially ended. I’m not even mad at him for the way things went down because it was the out I needed.”

“An out?”

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