Page 41 of Between the Shady Groves
“I’d love to do that. I think… I kinda think I might be going to stay.”
“And open the bakery?” Grace asked eagerly.
“I think so.”
“Does that mean that your husband is going back to Cincinnati without you?” Claire asked, and she looked slightly less enthused.
“No. Actually, I think he’s going to sell his business and move here.” She didn’t want to start a whole bunch of rumors if it turned out to not be true, so she said, “I’d appreciate it if you don’t say anything for now. I guess we’re still talking about it, but that’s what he was saying today when he and I went out to eat. That he wanted to be with me. And that for the last ten years, he’d built his business. Now he wants to sell it and have a little nest egg, I think that’s what he called it, and have me run the bakery.”
Both of her friends smiled and seemed excited. And then Grace bit her lip.
“But… Would you make enough money to support yourselves?”
“I’m not sure. I mean, Cannon told me today that he had heard around town that someone had bought the inn. Did you guys hear that?”
“I heard a rumor about it,” Claire said. “And I hope it’s true. But I did a little digging, and I couldn’t figure out who it was.”
They were silent for a moment. Yolanda’s mother had always talked about wanting to buy it, but after Yolanda died, her mother moved away. It was like she couldn’t stand the pain.
Which reminded Lauren that maybe this was something she shouldface too. Because if she had faced her marriage problems, she wouldn’t have ended up leaving her husband and causing him a lot of undue stress and worry.
“Can I… Can I talk to you guys about something?”
“Sure,” they said together.
They took their seats, with Lauren sitting between Grace and Claire, and both of them kind of slightly tilted toward her.
“They need to put benches that face each other, for people who want to sit and talk.”
“I think that they think that most of the people who come here are people who want to sit and think and reflect quietly,” Grace said, but she lifted her shoulder. “I certainly don’t disagree with you. If people are going to meet here, like us, the seating arrangements are not the best.”
“But I love this spot. The shady grove is so beautiful,” Lauren said, looking at the trees that sheltered the walkway, protecting it, giving it such a whimsical, beautiful look.
But she was procrastinating. She wanted to talk to them about Yolanda. And that day.
“Is it going to ruin your day if I bring up Yolanda again?” She paused. She felt like she was ready now. Even though not a whole lot of time had passed, just having things…not settled, but better between her husband and her, made her feel like she had the strength to face this.
“No. Grace and I talked about her a while ago, and it really helped me. I…still have times where I don’t always like to think about going out on the lake, but I’m more at peace with it than I ever have been.”
“Same. It just helped to hear someone else saying that they felt the same things I did.”
“I don’t know that either one of you will feel what I feel, because most of my feeling is guilt.”
“I felt guilt too,” Grace admitted.
“Same,” Claire said.
“I’m not sure I understand why you guys would, because I’m the one who encouraged her to go. She was going to stay with me. After she found out that I wasn’t going to go. I…just didn’t feel like it. It wasn’t that I had some kind of strange premonition or anything. I just…can’t explain it. Normally I was all in for a day on the lake. But I wanted to stayhome and just read a book. Maybe—I don’t really remember, but maybe the book I was reading was pretty good. Maybe that was it. And also, we had a cat that had just had kittens. I wanted to stay home and keep an eye on them too.”
“I think I remember about the kittens.” Claire furrowed her brows together. “I kind of forgot about that until you brought it up.”
“Yeah. I don’t even remember what happened to the kittens. The days afterward were so chaotic, and I felt guilty, because Yolanda came over, and she wanted to sit and play with the kittens. But they were newborns. You couldn’t play with them. You could only sit and watch them. And I didn’t want her handling them too much.”
Lauren bit her lip.
“I guess I was being selfish too. They were new, and I wanted to have them to myself for a bit. Anyway, I wanted to read my book too. So I basically talked her into going. Because she didn’t even bring her beach clothes to my house. She had to go back home and change, in order to meet you guys.”
“Wow. I don’t think I knew that.”
