Page 101 of Summer Longing
“Are you okay?”
“Fine,” her mother said. She tried to convince Olivia to keep her company while she made her last stop at her real estate agent’s office.
“No, I’m going back to the house,” Olivia said.
Her mother suggested breakfast, and Olivia’s stomach rumbled.
They reached Café Heaven and found a line already out the door. They decided to wait, since every place would be crowded. Ruth gave her name to the host.
“I’m glad you’ve struck up a friendship with Jaci,” her mother said. “I think…I think that girl needs a friend.”
Her mother seemed almost misty-eyed, and Olivia thought, for the dozenth time since reaching town, that Ruth was not the distracted, work-obsessed, selfish person she remembered. Could selling the company have really created such a dramatic change? Or had Olivia, due to her own neediness and lack of empathy, simply judged her too harshly?
Either way, all she wanted in that moment was a mother to confide in.
“Mom,” she said. “I wasn’t at the house because I’m friends with Jaci. I was there because I’m involved with Marco.”
“Marco Barros?” Ruth said, as if there were any other Marco. Olivia nodded. Her mother smiled. “He’s adorable.”
“Yeah, tell me about it,” Olivia said, sighing.
“Is there a problem?”
“The problem is that I don’t live here. And Marco has never even been to New York. Once I get back to work, how much time can I really spend here?”
“Oh, Olivia. These are just details. These are good problems to have. The important thing is that you met someone you care about. And who cares about you. Life is full of obstacles, and it just takes patience to overcome them. Do you have to get back to New York next week?”
“No.”
“Do you have to get back to New York next month?”
“No. But I should. And I don’t want to overstay my welcome at the house. Do you want me to—”
“Olivia, this is a dream for me. All I want is time with my daughter.” She stepped closer and hugged her, and Olivia felt the primal comfort of being enveloped in her mother’s arms.
Olivia thought about Lidia’s despair at the thought of Jaci leaving. “The reason I was talking to Jaci this morning was that she plans on leaving today. Her mother is really upset. I feel responsible because I once told Jaci she needed to do what was best for herself and not worry about her mother.”
“It’s not your fault,” Ruth said quickly. Too quickly.
“How do you know?”
Ruth looked uncomfortable. “I just don’t think it is. Is she really leaving town? Today?”
“I don’t know. I asked her to reconsider. I tried reasoning with her.”
Her mother tensed.
“Mom, is something going on?”
“No. No, of course not.”
“If there is, I need you to tell me. Marco is concerned about her; Lidia is upset. Is there something I should know?”
Ruth shook her head. “Just keep on being a good friend. That’s all you can do.”
The host called out her mother’s name and waved them inside. Olivia followed her mother to the table, trying to quell the feeling that her mother was lying to her. It was an old, cynical pattern of thinking, one she was trying to move past in the spirit of having a more amicable relationship.
They were seated by the window, and her mother smiled at her. No, of course she wasn’t lying to her.
