Page 54 of Through the Snow Globe
Addy’s eyes widened subtly. “Really? You never tell me anything.”
“Well, today I’m offering up something juicy in exchange for you talking to me.”
Addy looked skeptical. “Okay. You first. What’s bothering you?”
Diana hesitated. She could go with some trivial detail, like saying her heater was on the fritz again, but that felt like a cop-out. “I’m currently stressing because I’m not sure I know how to be part of someone’s family. My fiancé’s family, to be exact.”
Addy scrunched her brow. “What do you mean you don’t know how to be part of a family?”
Diana shrugged. “I was raised by my grandmother. We didn’t really act like family. We lived in the same house but that was about it. To be honest, the idea of holiday get-togethers kind of freaks me out. And the idea of a big wedding terrifies me.”
Addy seemed to be soaking up the conversation. “Meanwhile my family tries to suffocate me and I can’t get a moment’s peace without my mom checking to make sure I’m still breathing.”
“She loves you,” Diana said, feeling vulnerable somehow. She hadn’t even shared this exact truth with Rochelle, mainly because she knew her best friend would try to give her a ton of advice that wouldn’t fix this situation.
“I know, and I guess I’m a little less annoyed at her now that I realize you didn’t have that growing up. What are you going to do?”
“About what?” Diana asked.
“Well, are you still going to marry the guy? Because you’ll be marrying his family too, you know?” Addy sounded so much like a mini adult.
It had never occurred to Diana to break up with Linus over his huge, overbearing family. She loved him. Of course she wasn’t going to leave him just because he had an ideal, nurturing family environment when he was growing up, and she didn’t.
“No. I’ll just deal with it. I mean, I’ll get used to having a family. How hard could it be?”
Addy coughed out a laugh. “Hard.” She looked down at her hands and seemed to locate a spot of chipped polish on her nails. She began chipping more of the polish away as she talked. “That’s why I don’t see my grandma. She couldn’t get along with my dad when he was still here.”
“Oh?” Diana wondered why this aspect of Maria’s and the Pierces’ lives never came up before.
Addy nodded. “Yep.”
“But that’s not what’s bothering you today,” Diana said. “This is about a guy, right?”
Addy looked up and narrowed her eyes. “How’d you know that?”
“I was a teenager once.”
To this Addy grinned. “It’s weird thinking that you were ever a kid.”
“Why is that?” Diana asked, feeling a little defensive.
“Because you’re so serious all the time.”
Diana let that sink in. Linus was one big adult kid and she was too serious to have ever been a kid. Opposites attract, but were they too opposite? From the moment she’d met Linus she’d known he was the one for her, but some part of her was also waiting for him to realize they weren’t a good fit. There was this tiny fear inside her mind that he might leave her one day. “What’s going on with the guy?”
A soft sigh tumbled off Addy’s lips. “My boyfriend, Jay, is forgetting all about me. And now I hear he’s talking to my best friend, Sierra.”
“If that’s true then he’s not the right guy for you.” Diana usually shied away from giving out personal advice, especially to her patients, but after having this discussion three times now, she couldn’t hold her tongue longer. “And who knows? Maybe he’s not into your friend the way you think he is. Maybe whoever is relaying this information to you is mistaken. Why don’t you FaceTime with him?”
“FaceTime? Look at me.” Addy pointed at her head. “My hair is falling out. My skin is dry.” Tears welled in her eyes. “I look horrible. Whatever. Maybe he’s better off with Sierra anyway.”
“Hey.” Diana placed a hand on Addy’s back. “That’s not true. You are beautiful. Don’t think for a second that you’re not.”
Addy blinked back at her. “Bald and beautiful, right?”
“Yes, you’re losing your hair. For the moment. But in time it will grow back. Life will move on, and maybe you’ll be the one to decide this guy isn’t worth your attention.”
Addy sat up and visibly swallowed. “He’s really nice, though.”
