Page 30 of A Wedding in the Bay

Josie took a deep breath. She was sitting on her bed, hugging her knees and staring at her phone, which was resting on the edge of her night table.

“You can do this, Josie,” she whispered to herself, trying to psyche herself up. “You can do it.”

She’d decided to call her mother that day and talk with her about coming to the wedding, but with certain boundaries and guidelines in place. Her heart was fluttering in nervousness—she loved her mother and she wanted to talk to her, but she knew from experience that sometimes conversations with her mother were hard and left her feeling drained. And in this case in particular, she felt nervous about what her mother was going to say. What if Josie offered her a wedding invitation but with stipulations, and her mother said that she wasn’t going to come to the wedding at all?

She took one more deep breath, then reached for her phone. She dialed her mother’s number and listened to it ring three times with a thumping heart.

“Hello?”

“Hey, Mom, it’s Josie.” She forced a smile onto her face so that it would be audible in her voice.

“I know, I have caller ID. Hey, hon.”

For a second, there was an awkward pause. Josie’s mom seemed to be waiting for Josie to explain why she was calling.

“Do you have a minute? I have something I’d like to talk with you about.”

“Okay, well shoot. I’m not doing anything at the moment.” For a moment, Josie wondered if her mother’s words had a second meaning, and she meant to imply that she was currently sober as a reassurance to her daughter.

“Great. So—I told you about that guy I was dating, right? Wesley Cliff?”

“Paige’s social worker? Yeah, you told me.”

Josie swallowed. She knew her mother was still unhappy with the fact that Paige had chosen to live with Josie in Blueberry Bay instead of return home to live with their mom once she’d gotten out of rehab. But Josie knew that Paige had made the right decision, and that their mom needed to learn to do the hard work of recovery before she could be a good person to live with.

“Well, we’re engaged.”

There was a long pause, and Josie winced, wondering what her mother was going to say. But when she spoke again, her mother sounded as though she might be crying a little bit.

“Josie, that’s wonderful. I’m so happy for you.”

“Thanks, Mom.” Her heart warmed at her mother’s words. “He’s a really great guy. I know we’re going to be happy together.”

“That’s great, kiddo.”

“And—well, we didn’t want to waste any time before getting married. We’re getting married very soon.”

“Oh?”

Josie could feel things becoming tense again—she sensed that her mother was wondering if she was going to be invited to the wedding or not.

“And I want you to be there to celebrate with us.” Josie took a deep breath. “But as part of the invitation, I also want to go over some boundaries that are important to Wesley and me. Things we’re expecting from all our guests,” she added, so her mother wouldn’t feel too singled out.

“Yes? What are they?” Her mother’s tone sounded a little stiff, but Josie continued.

“It’s important to us that there isn’t any kind of drama at the wedding. We expect everyone to be sober, and we expect people to stay away from any conversations that might cause a lot of tension for the other guests. So in this case, no conversations that might make Paige feel bad about her decision to stay in Blueberry Bay.”

“So no guilt-tripping?” her mother said flatly.

“Well, I—”

“It’s okay. I know I’ve been manipulative in the past. I’m sorry. Part of that was the substances making me too emotional.”

“Thanks for saying that, Mom.” Josie felt a little stunned by how gracious her mother’s words were. She hadn’t been expecting them.

“I’m sure Paige told you that I tried to get her to help me escape from rehab. She refused, so I didn’t leave. And that was really good for me. I learned a lot of important things there that are helping me do better.”

“I’m really happy to hear that, Mom,” Josie said warmly, meaning it sincerely. “I’m really proud of you.”

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