Page 15 of The Summer We Mended
She frowned.“Is that normal, though?Has she done this before when you’ve stayed over?”
“I said I don’t know,” Cody replied, sharper than she expected.Then, softer, “Sorry.I didn’t mean to snap.”
Anna leaned against the wall, eyes drifting toward the closed bedroom door down the hall.“It’s okay.”
“I’ve tried,” he said, quieter now.“I’ve tried to be there for her since Dad died, but she shut me out.I call, I check in, but she never really lets me in anymore.Not like before.”
She heard the ache in his voice.The frustration beneath it.“Cody… you’ve been dealing with your own grief too,” she said gently.“You retired from the Marines.You ended things with Nessa.We lost Dad.You were in the middle of your own whirlwind, and then more got thrown at you.No one faults you for taking care of yourself.”
Cody gave a dry chuckle.“Everyone but me.”
Anna closed her eyes for a beat.She didn’t know how to make it better, only that he shouldn’t have to feel that kind of guilt alone.
From the other room, a small voice called, “Mom?Blaze knocked over the orange juice!”
Anna sighed and smiled faintly.“Duty calls.I’ll see you later, okay?”
“Yeah,” Cody said.“Later.”
She ended the call, but the sound of her brother’s sadness lingered in her ears.
Anna tucked the phone into her pocket and headed toward the kitchen, where sticky footprints and a sheepish-looking Blaze awaited her.She knelt beside him, grabbing a towel, pushing away her worry for now.The kids needed her.And hopefully, her mother would allow her to clean things up for her later, too.
Anna poured herself another cup of coffee and leaned against the counter, staring out the window toward the ocean.She had missed this place something fierce, but she hadn’t prepared herself for how different it would be without her dad there.Or, how different her mom would be.
Anna had learned to be strong, resilient, and tough as nails from her mother.She had watched her move through life’s trials with grace and ease all throughout her life.It was hard to watch her stumble right now.
Anna’s grandparents had all passed on, from both sides of her family.And Lily handled all of it with grace and poise.She took control of all the situations and made sure that everyone else was cared for.Lily had been David’s strength when he lost his mom and dad, and she was the one that her brother and sister leaned on during their parents’ deaths.Her family had all left the Vineyard after that, choosing to live the rest of their lives out in Florida, where it was warm.
Anna let out a long breath as things started to make sense to her.
Lily was always the one taking care of everyone else, through everything, but when her world shattered, no one was there to take care of her.Anna closed her eyes as she leaned against the counter and took in that realization.
“If you’re on a plane, you put your mask on first.You’re no good to anyone else if you’re dying,” Dad would say.“Your mother would put everyone else’s on first, then put hers on and still be handling it all better than anyone else.I don’t know what I’d do if she ever leaves me.”
Anna smiled at the memory.Her mother had always been selfless and the caretaker in every situation, but it seemed she had burned her candle down until it was nothing.
It was time that Anna stepped in and took care of her mom.
ChapterFive
Lily
Lily had slept through her alarm again.
Not that it mattered.The soft trill of it barely registered these days.It would buzz, insistent and cheerful, and she would turn her face into the pillow, hoping sleep might drag her under again before she had to face the truth.
He wasn’t downstairs.
He wouldn’t be, ever again.
The thought twisted in her chest like something physical.It was sharp and hot and impossible to breathe through.Her mornings had always belonged to them.The coffee pot already gurgling when she padded into the kitchen.David humming along to some ridiculous song from the ’80s while he flipped eggs with a spatula he insisted was lucky.His smile when he saw her.The way he’d kiss her like it was the first time, every time.
Now there was only silence.Not the peaceful kind, but the kind that echoed.
Motionless, she stared at the ceiling as the light crept through the curtains.The idea of getting out of bed, of setting her feet on the floor and walking into a kitchen where he would never be again, was gut-wrenching.
So she stayed still.
