Page 10 of Through the Dark Night
Thankfully, he didn’t go into it, although she wondered if maybe he needed to. He was a man, and his emotions were definitely not worn on his sleeve.
“Yes. Into the inn.”
“Which you bought,” he said, but it sounded like a question.
“That’s correct.”
“Mom, are you having some kind of midlife crisis or something?”
“I don’t think I’m the one who’s having the midlife crisis,” she said, offended by that question.
“If I recall correctly, it was run down back when we lived there. Did someone else buy it and fix it up and you purchased it from them?”
“No. I’m fixing it up.”
“Is that wise? Do you have the financial resources to do that? I know you got a bit of a windfall from the divorce settlement, but… That has to last you the rest of your life, unless you’re going to get a job and go back into the workforce, which of course you can if you want to.” He paused for a moment. “You could go back to school and get a degree, do whatever it is you’ve always wanted to do.”
“I always wanted to live in Raspberry Ridge, and I want to own aninn. I want to fix it up. I want to make a place where people come and are happy.”
That should answer all of his questions, although probably not satisfactorily if she knew Alex.
“Mother. I’m a little concerned about you. This is…not like you at all. You’re the cautious one. The one who doesn’t take unnecessary risks.”
“The one who’s faithful. The one who doesn’t cheat. The one who does what she says she’s going to do, no matter how hard it is.” She probably shouldn’t have said that, but it was the truth. And she just wanted to remind him that there were reasons why she was doing what she was doing, and they weren’t of her choosing. If she had her choice, she and her husband would still be married, although… Knowing what she knew about him now, she really didn’t want to stay married to him.
“All right. I hear you. Well, you know I’m here if you need anything.”
“I know.” He had just finished law school and started practicing law in the last year. He had gotten married in his last year of law school, and not only did he have his school bills to pay, but he was setting up a home for his future family, since his wife was now expecting their first child. She would have to be really hard up before she would ask Alex for help with anything.
“Is your car running okay?” he asked, which she almost laughed about. Her car was the least of her worries.
“It’s only a year old. If anything happens to it, it’s under warranty.” That was one good thing about her husband—he had an excellent job as a lawyer, and he’d been very generous with his money. She didn’t want for anything.
The settlement that she’d gotten was because of the hard work that he had put in. Although she had made sure that he was comfortable at home, and he had wanted for nothing once he set foot in the house. Their home had been an oasis of love and laughter and family and calm and peace. She had made sure of it, because of the stress of his job. Would he have been able to be successful without her? She thought not, since she had worked as a waitress to help put him through law school.
Regardless, it didn’t matter now. She had been with him, and shehad gotten half of everything, which he hadn’t even seemed to think about. He was so desperate to be with his new love that he didn’t care how much it cost him.
That had hurt probably as much as anything.
“All right, Mom. You take care, okay?”
“I will. I love you.”
“I love you too.”
She swiped off and breathed a sigh of relief. That wasn’t as hard as what she thought it was going to be. And the hard phone call was over. He might have questions, he might continue to question her sanity, but she broke the ice, and now he knew.
Now, she just needed to call Emma before Alex told Emma what was going on.
Emma had just graduated from college that spring. She had started her first job in Ann Arbor, and Shannon hadn’t seen her since June.
Maybe part of the reason that Shannon wanted to move to Raspberry Ridge was because it was closer to her daughter than Detroit.
That was a perk, not a reason, but it was a nice perk, since she and her daughter had always been close.
She dialed her number and moved to the kitchen while the phone was ringing, sitting down at the big square bar in the middle and checking behind her to make sure that there wasn’t anything that was so run down that it would scare Emma. Emma was the kind of daughter who would quit her job and come immediately if she thought her mother actually needed her.
Shannon would have to be a little more careful with her. There wasn’t too much chance that Alex was going to do something so drastic, but Emma had been a little bit more protective of her and held a lot more hard feelings toward their father.
