Page 7 of Happy Harbor
Melody leaned back against the sofa and stuck her hand into the bag of chips, grabbing a few. “Sandra is already interviewing people for your job.”
“Seriously?”
“She has a stack of résumés on her desk.”
Josie groaned as she stood up and walked to the kitchen. She opened the freezer and retrieved a pint of butter pecan ice cream, taking two tablespoons from the drawer before returning to the sofa.
Melody was her only real friend in town, a good enough friend that she’d insisted on coming over when Josie called after dinner. But she wondered if their friendship would last now that they didn’t work together anymore. Still, she was glad to have someone to commiserate with on one of the worst days of her life.
She handed Melody one spoon and popped the top on the ice cream, digging into it. “Well, she didn’t waste any time, did she? Just like Craig, I guess.”
“So he’s dating someone else? He cheated on you?”
“Yep. He found his robin’s-egg blue and left his old grayish-blue in the dust.”
Melody stared at her. “Huh?”
“Never mind. It’s not important. Whatisimportant is that I’m now a single, unemployed woman with no job prospects and a daughter who might give me a stroke. Don’t be too jealous of my fabulous life.”
“Single? You and Craig broke up?” Josie turned her head to see her daughter standing on the stairs, that look of teenage disgust on her face.
“Yep. Just the cherry on top of an already sucky day.”
Kendra descended the stairs and stood in front of her mother, her hands on her hips. “What did you do?”
“Excuse me?”
“Well, he had to break up with you for some reason, Mom.”
Josie stood up. “And it’s automatically my fault?”
“Usually,” she said, rolling her eyes and walking toward the kitchen.
Josie followed. “I’ll have you know he cheated on me with someone else!”
“That doesn’t mean he didn’t have a reason,” she said, pouring herself a cup of coffee. It was decaf, so Josie didn’t comment.
“There’s never a good reason to cheat on someone, Kendra,” Melody interjected.
“Maybe not, but I’m still sure he had his reasons.”
Josie couldn’t form words. There was a time when she and Kendra were as close as a mother and daughter could be. Then she had a birthday that added the wordteento the end of her age, and suddenly her daughter had turned into a different person.
“So you think it was okay for my fiancé to cheat on me because he must’ve had a good reason?”
Kendra sighed. “Mom, you can be a little...”
“Difficult?”
“Yes! Difficult.”
Josie wanted to run out into traffic. “Go to bed, Kendra. You have school tomorrow.”
“Whatever.” Kendra walked back up the stairs and slammed her door.
“Yikes. Were we that bad as teenagers?” Melody asked, taking another bite of ice cream.
Josie laughed breathlessly. “I probably was.”
