Page 30 of A New Chapter in Rosewood Beach

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Dean grinned at his mother as she tapped her fingers against her mouth. She was reading the instructions for putting together the diaper changing station in Alexis and Grayson’s baby nursery.

“Confusing?” he asked her.

She looked up and smiled. “Oh, it’s not too bad. I’m sure your clever brain won’t have any trouble with it. But I’m just a little distracted right now. Here.” She handed him the instruction papers.

Dean sat down in the rocking chair that was tucked into a corner of the room and began to peruse the instructions. He loved putting things together—it was like constructing a giant puzzle. “This isn’t too bad,” he told her cheerfully. “I’ll just let you know what I need help with. You can hold pieces up or hand me tools, things like that.”

“Sounds good.” She smiled. “Thanks for asking me to help you, Dean.”

He laughed. “I should be thanking you for agreeing to help me. I didn’t want to ask my pregnant sister to do it. I’m of the opinion that all she should be doing these days is eating and sleeping and being comfy.”

Vivian chuckled. “I think she probably agrees with you. But I mean it. I’m excited to do this with you, Dean. I love being involved in getting ready for the baby, and I like that we’re doing a project together, just the two of us. We haven’t done anything like that in a long time.”

“You’re right.” He was reminded of summer evenings when he was a kid, when his mother or his father would help him put together some elaborate 3D puzzle or help him repair something that was tricky to fix. “I’ve always loved doing projects with you, Mom. We should start doing more projects together again.”

“We should. This is a good place to start.” She laughed, but he noticed that she seemed a little distant, almost sad. She’d said that she was distracted, and he wondered why.

“How is tennis going?” he asked her as he stood up and started arranging the various parts of the changing table on the floor. “Are you still having a great time with it?”

“Oh yes.” She nodded, and her eyes took on a faraway look. He again got the impression that she was a little sad about something. “Hazel and I were just playing again earlier today—and then I stayed behind and practiced my serves for a while.”

“You sound dedicated. Tennis always looked so tiring to me.”

Her eyebrows lifted in concern. “Is this too much for you, after a long day of work?” She gestured to all of the pieces of the changing table spread out across the floor. “If you’re too tired, I’m sure we can do it another day. It’s not like the baby is due tomorrow.”

“No, I’m fine,” he assured her. “Thanks for thinking of me, Mom, but I’m doing great. You don’t need to be concerned about me—having Jeff working at the shop has been a huge help.”

“That’s great, sweetie. And I’m glad you seem more accepting of your situation. There were a few times when we told you that you needed to slow down and you got a little snappish,” she said gently.

“You’re right.” He shook his head. “I didn’t like that side of me—my condition brought it out at times. It was hard to feel so bad physically and so overwhelmed mentally at the same time, and I didn’t always react the way that I should have.”

“It’s okay, Dean. We knew you were going through a lot.”

“I know, and I’m grateful that none of you gave up on looking out for me, even when I didn’t have the best attitude about your care. Between you guys and Noelle, I’ve come to realize that having people close to me that I can lean on is a gift. I never would have recognized it so fully without my diagnosis. It’s another silver lining of this whole thing.”

He shared a smile with his mother, and then her expression became deeply thoughtful. He went back to his work for a few moments to give her time to think, and then he asked her what was on her mind.

“Well,” she said slowly, going to sit in the rocking chair, “what you said got me thinking. I thought that I would never find another man to depend on after I lost Frank. And it turns out that Frank wasn’t even all that dependable after all, unfortunately. I was relying on an unreliable man for all those years and I didn’t even know it. But what you said about your perspective changing, and silver linings—well, it makes me think of my situation.”

Dean watched her face carefully, wondering what she was going to say next. What she’d said about finding another man to depend on intrigued him. Could it be that she’d found someone that she was interested in romantically?

His mind jumped immediately to Terrence. For months now, the Owens siblings had been hoping that there was a spark forming between the good-natured health inspector and their mother. They liked to discuss it amongst themselves a lot, but every time they brought it up to Vivian, she brushed it off, saying that she and Terrence were simply good friends.

He had to hold back a smile as he thought about it. Although the thought of his mother becoming romantically interested in someone other than his father was a strange one, he wanted her to be happy. He also liked Terrence a great deal, and he had a lot of respect for the older man.

“What’s your situation, Mom?” he prompted finally.

She coughed gently. “I have found myself… well, after how kind he’s been to me, I’ve started to open my heart to… to potentially allowing Terrence to be on my radar. Um, romantically.”

Dean let out a whoop and grinned from ear to ear. Vivian blinked at him, startled by his reaction.

“Dean, what is it?”

“I think Terrence is great, Mom. I’m really happy for you.”

“Oh no.” She shook her head, her cheeks flushing. “It’s not like that—I just mean that it’s something I’ve been thinking about. As a matter of fact, we talked about it earlier today, and he seems to have rejected me.”

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