Page 47 of Seeing You

“I’m sure you all know that Marcus’s mom passed away. It was a little over twelve years ago and we were still together then. She had cancer but she didn’t tell anyone except John, and she begged him not to tell Max and Marcus.” Pausing, she shook her head. “When he finally told them, she was nearing the end. They came home and…it was awful. She wanted to die at home and John honored her wishes, but Marcus never forgave him. He swore that if they had gotten her better treatments, gone for second, third, or fourth opinions that she wouldn’t have died. Basically, he blames his father for all of it, claiming he withheld treatment. It was…you have no idea how heartbreaking it was to watch.”

Chloe reached over and squeezed her hand. “Why didn’t you ever say anything to us about any of this? We’re your family and you’ve been carrying this burden—pre- and post-breakup! You’re always there for us, but you never let us be there for you.”

“The stuff with Marcus’s family, that was private. Although, I think everyone in town ended up knowing at least some of the details because Marcus was so hateful at the funeral.”

They all nodded. “We didn’t know the specifics,” Cora said, “but I remember hearing a lot about it.”

“He changed after that,” Billie went on. “He was obsessed with his career and making money and never wanting for anything. Looking back, I realize he thought maybe his parents couldn’t afford the care his mother would have required and he wanted to make sure something like that never happened again. All I knew was his drive was becoming an obsession, and he projected that onto me. You know I always enjoyed my career in finance—it comes natural to me. It was all we talked about, and it was exhausting. When he proposed, I told him I wanted things to change. I wanted us to spend more time with our families and to maybe do things we enjoyed rather than working so much. But he never listened and after a while, he became openly hostile every time I brought the subject up.”

“I get that he was hurting and clearly didn’t know how to handle his grief,” Jade said, “but he shouldn’t have expected you to feel the exact same way he did.”

“He booked the Hawaii trip without asking me and made all the plans for us to get married on the beach. He said he knew that was my dream vacation.” She sighed. “It would have been gorgeous, but…I couldn’t do it. I knew if I stayed, I was going to lose myself. So, I had to do something drastic and…I left while he was at work and didn’t speak to him again until the day he showed up at Books & Beans.”

It was silent for longer than she would have thought possible.

“So that’s it,” she said. “That’s all there is to it. We are still two very different people and there’s no way to meet in the middle or compromise. Marcus will never change, and…it is well and truly over.”

“Well that’s just sad,” Chloe said. “And I’m sorry you felt like you had to deal with that all by yourself while having to deal with all of us and our issues.”

“Yeah,” Ash agreed. “You came home when we were all freaking out in different ways, and you never let on that you were grieving. We love how strong you are, but I feel like I love you more after hearing your story tonight. You’re way more relatable now instead of being this perfect woman who always says and does the right thing.”

Nodding, Chloe said, “I have to agree. Sometimes I felt like there was something wrong with me because there were always things going on that freaked me out, but you were always calm and cool and it didn’t seem like anything bothered you.”

“You know, I think we sometimes feel like it’s better to look strong,” Cora said solemnly. “We want everyone to see us as women who can handle anything. What we don’t realize is that our vulnerability inspires others. I remember being part of a parenting group—it was really just the moms—when Jade was growing up. We had this leader, a mentor woman who always talked about how wonderful her children were and how great everything was all the time. She thought it encouraged us, but the truth was that it made us feel like failures.” Pausing, she gave Billie a small smile. “Never be afraid to be vulnerable. You never know who you’re helping.”

“Mom…” But this time, Jade wasn’t admonishing, she was nearly in tears. “That was beautiful!”

Billie felt emotionally exhausted and said as much. “I could really use a change of subject.”

“Okay, I promise we will, but…what are you going to do when you see Marcus again?” Jade asked.

“Oh, I don’t think that’s going to happen. He stormed out of that hotel room, and I’m sure he checked out of the hotel beforethe sun was up. This isn’t where he wants to be and…that’s it. It’s over.”

“Um…” Cora murmured.

“Mom? What’s thatumabout?”

“Well, I’m friends with Nancy Jameson. She came in for coffee earlier and was telling me that John Calloway fell off his roof the other day and her husband was the one to call 911. They got him to the hospital and John’s got a fractured hip and two fractured ribs, plus some scrapes and bruises…”

“What does this have to do with Marcus?” Ashlynn asked.

“Well…” Looking at Billie, Cora said, “Marcus is back in town and apparently he’s staying for a while.”

“Marcus? Can you make me a sandwich?”

Rubbing his temples, Marcus took a moment before responding. It was his father’s fourth food request of the day, and it wasn’t even noon yet.

“Sure, Dad! Turkey okay?”

“Do we have bacon?”

“Why me?” he mumbled before walking into the den where his father was sitting in his recliner. “We finished the bacon yesterday. I was going to make an online grocery order this afternoon. Why don’t you make me a list and I’ll make sure I get everything.”

“Any chance you can go into town and get some cake? I’d kill for some crumb cake right about now.”

They’d been able to avoid this particular conversation because the Jamesons had brought over a gigantic box of cake from Books & Beans on Monday. Now it was Thursday and it wasall gone. He’d been toying with the idea of going out and picking some up, but…he wasn’t ready to face Billie.

“If you go later in the day, there isn’t as big of a selection, but you won’t run into Billie,” his father said as if reading his mind.

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