Page 44 of Wood You Knot

For a moment, I debated letting it go to voicemail. Talking to my mother was not my favourite pastime, but I hadn’t spoken to her since we left her house for Hartwood Creek. I’d texted her to let her know we’d arrived safely, but aside from a thumbs-up, I hadn’t heard back.

My mother kept a busy social calendar, so she didn’t have time to sit around and think about the fact her fourth husband was never around and likely off having extramarital affairs. So long as she still had access to his credit cards, she didn’t care.

But I knew if I avoided her call, she would only try again with more persistence, or worse…call Auntie Em.

On the fourth ring, I answered, “Hey, Mom.”

“Hello, darling. I’m just calling to check in and see how things are going there in Hartwood Creek, since you haven’t bothered to call me and tell me yourself.”

I rolled my eyes and swallowed a sigh. “I know, I’m sorry. Things have been crazy busy. I started my new job, and I’ve been focused on getting Daphne adjusted.”

“Daphne’s not adjusting well? I told you that would happen. You should have stayed with Warren and avoided all this unnecessary confusion.” My mother’s voice could be very grating, especially when she was saying stuff like that.

“I really don’t think it’s ‘unnecessary confusion,’ Mom. I left Warren, and we had to move.”

“You didn’t have to leave Warren, and if you hadn’t left him, you wouldn’t have had to move,” my mom pointed out.

This time, I let her hear my sigh. “Mom, we’re not getting into that again. It’s over between Warren and me, forever. Now moving on—yes, she’s had a little trouble adjusting. She misses her old friends, but she’s made plenty of new ones already and seems to really enjoy living here.”

“Oh, well. That’s good to hear. I’m glad she’s making friends. And how are you liking working at Ed’s…quaint little hardware store?” The way she’d said quaint made it sound bad.

“I love it,” I answered honestly. I loved the small-town, almost antique-y feel of it, and the customers were all so kind and patient. If I had trouble finding a product right away, they were all too happy to point me in the right direction—without making me feel bad for not knowing.

“Oh, that’s good, I guess,” Mom said, sounding surprised and almost disappointed by my answer. It was as if she wanted me to realize I’d made a big mistake in moving and taking this job, but honestly, I felt like moving to Hartwood Creek was the best thing I could have done—for myself and for Daphne.

“Yeah. And I’ve made friends, too, quite a few of them. I’m even volunteering at Daphne’s school fundraiser. They’ll have a photo booth set up, and I’ll be taking the photos,” I told her.

“Oh, how lovely,” Mom said, but I could detect the complacent note in her voice.

“Yeah, I’m excited about it. But anyway, how have you been?” I asked, changing the subject to my mother’s favourite topic—herself.

“I’ve been very well, thank you. Went on a little holiday with Bridgette. We flew down to Vegas for a weekend, gambled away some money. It was wonderful. And you’ll never believe what happened when I got home.”

“Oh really? What happened?” I asked, half paying attention while I stocked shelves with the shipment that arrived earlier.

“Warren came looking for you. He showed up with the most beautiful bouquet of roses. He wanted to apologize again for…what happened between the two of you. He was surprised you weren’t here.”

“Did you tell him I’ve moved on, literally and figuratively? Because I have,” I replied, my tone as cold and dead as my feelings toward my former fiancé. His little ploy of bringing me flowers fell flat, especially considering I’d told him on more than one occasion that roses were my least favourite flower.

“Well, I did tell him you moved, yes. But I think he really regrets it, and I think you should hear him out—”

“No, Mom,” I said, cutting her off midsentence. “I’m not going to ‘hear him out’ because I no longer care what he has to say about it. I’m over it, I’m done with him, and I’m not revisiting this subject again with you. Please respect that.”

“No need to get your back up, darling. I’m just trying to help you.” My mother sounded offended and wounded, but in that moment, I didn’t care. She didn’t care how I felt about the matter after months of the same discourse, so I wasn’t about to coddle her feelings.

“If you wanted to help me, you would accept my decisions and support them—and me,” I told her. I heard her sniffle on the other end of the line, and I sighed again. “Look, I’m happier than I’ve ever been, and I won’t be taking him back. Not now, not ever. Okay?”

“Fine, but I think you’re making a foolish mistake.” The door chimed, alerting me to the fact that Uncle Ed had just walked in.

“I’m at work, Mom, so I need to go. I’ll call you later. Love you, bye,” I said, hanging up before she could say anything else.

“Everything okay?” Uncle Ed asked as he walked over to me. He’d overheard the tail end of my conversation, judging by the concerned look in his eyes. He knew how my mother was.

“Yeah, everything’s great. How was your appointment?”

“Good. Doc says my ticker’s doing just fine, and I got out of there with enough time to meet your aunt at Candlelight Bistro for lunch. How were things here?”

“That’s awesome. It hasn’t been too busy since you left, so I’ve just been stocking shelves and doing inventory,” I replied as cheerfully as I could muster. There was no doubt about it, though, talking to my mother always brought my mood down several notches.

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