Page 65 of Escape to the Sun

Ash smiled. “Deal.” He got up to pour her a glass.

Heather took the moment to collect her thoughts and figure out the best way to try to explain the situation to him in a way that didn’t sound ridiculous.

She couldn’t come up with anything.

“Here you go.” He put the glass in front of her. “Better?”

She took a sip before she answered. “Much.” She took another sip and licked her lips. “It’s not that I don’t love my mother.”

“Of course.” Ash returned to his seat across from her.

“It’s just that she doesn’t get me.” She shook her head because it sounded so adolescent. “And I don’t mean that the way it just came out. I mean, ever since my dad died when I was a kid, she’s been crazy protective. She wouldn’t let me do anything. And I mean anything. She would have put me in a bubble if she could have gotten away with it. I know she was just trying to protect me. She was so terrified that something bad would happen to me if I left.”

“Left the country?”

“Left the country. The state. Hell, even if I left home.” Heather shook her head, remembering the stifling environment she’d grown up in. “It made me crazy. The older I got, the more I felt trapped. I did everything I could to try to get away. I mean, I loved her and everything, but I needed to get out and live, right?”

“Of course.”

“I applied at schools out of state after high school; I even got accepted to a few. But when the time came to send in tuition, she claimed the money was gone. The house needed a new roof. The car died. Whatever. I couldn’t go.”

“That’s terrible.”

That was an understatement. It was the first time that Heather had really understood how deeply disturbed her mother was. It was also the first time that she realized that if she didn’t do something drastic, she’d get sucked down right along with her.

And then she met Joe.

“So I got married.”

“Married?” Ash almost spat out his whiskey. “That seems drastic.”

“It was. But I needed to get out. I was drowning in my mother’s worry for me. I couldn’t live like that anymore.” She couldn’t. It would have killed her or destroyed her relationship with her mom. In hindsight, it did destroy her relationship with her mom. She never wanted that to happen. She’d been hoping to prevent that. But mostly she hadn’t been thinking about anything but getting away. Maybe if she had, she would have put more thought into her choice of husband. But then again, everything happened for a reason, and she wouldn’t be sitting where she was if it wasn’t for that choice. “I agree—it wasn’t the best reason to get married. But I liked Joe.”

“You liked him?”

She shrugged. At the time, she thought she’d loved him, but looking back, it was clear to see she’d loved the idea of what he represented, which mostly was getting away.

“Okay. You’ve already told me about your ex.” Ash leaned across the table. “But what does this have to do with your mom and you? I take it she didn’t like you leaving?”

Heather shook her head. “Not even a little.” She took another sip of wine and then another. “She said terrible things—about Joe mostly. But also to me. I know she didn’t mean them. Well, she meant the things about Joe.” She laughed. “But I know she was just hurt that I was leaving her. At least, I know that now. I didn’t talk to her for a few years and then I felt guilty. Especially when it became clear that she’d been right about Joe and me.”

“You couldn’t fix things?”

“The only thing that would have made her happy was if I went home. But by then I’d had a taste of life on the outside.” She used air quotes. “There was no way I was going back. Things with us have never been the same since. We mostly only communicate by email because that way I don’t have to hear the disappointment in her voice—I just have to read between the lines.”

“I think she’s trying to fix things, Heather.”

She stared at him, openmouthed. “What on earth would make you think that?”

He took his time answering, but when he finally spoke, his words pierced her heart. “Because she’s here.”

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