Page 9 of The Summer We Mended
“Let’s take a break.”
Lily followed her.She sat gingerly, the fatigue of grief still etched into her bones.It had taken everything in her just to wash dishes; how was she supposed to handle Anna and the twins being here if that had exhausted her?
“I must be getting sick.Maybe I should have Anna get a hotel or stay with Cody.I don’t want the kids to get sick.There’s no reason I should be this tired.”
“It’s not that you’re getting sick,” Margot said softly.“It’s that you’re moving through your grief and depression.Your body is trying to protect you from your heartbreak and fighting against you.”
“That’s nonsense,” Lily said quickly.
“It’s not.It’s the same thing I went through.My counselor explained that it’s normal to have to move through this stuff.”
Lily shook her head, not wanting to listen to her friend’s words.Then she let out a long sigh, realizing that Margot was right.
“I don’t know how to live without him,” Lily said.It was the most honest thing she’d said in weeks.
Margot reached over and took her hand.Her grip was warm and strong.
“You don’t have to know today.But you do have to try.And lucky for you, I’m as stubborn as they come.So, I’ll be right here.”
Lily closed her eyes and inhaled slowly.Margot was the rock that she needed but hadn’t really allowed to be there for her.She always showed up, though, even when Lily was less than cordial to her.David’s brother, her sister-in-law, and the kids had tried to be there for her, but she fought them every step of the way.
Margot was somewhat of a miracle worker in the way that she effortlessly moved about the house cleaning and tidying up like a fairy godmother.She was an angel and Lily was grateful for her, even if she rarely showed that.
“Don’t you have a life of your own?”Lily asked playfully.
“Nah, you’re my only reason for living, dear friend,” she quipped as she laughed.
Lily rolled her eyes and shook her head as she started sweeping the kitchen.Lily’s brain was screaming at her to go back to bed and hide from the rest of the world, but she knew that she couldn’t.
She had to work beside Margot and be ready for her daughter and grandkids when they arrived.They needed her, and for now, that’s what was keeping her afloat.
ChapterThree
Anna
The ferry rocked gently as it glided into Vineyard Harbor, whitecaps flickering beneath the pale April sun.Anna clutched Nora’s hand and shifted Blaze’s overnight bag higher on her shoulder.The twins hummed with their usual rhythm of chatter and questions: how much longer, what kind of cookies would Grandma have, or whether they could go to the beach that day.Anna responded without thinking, answers tumbling out while her mind drifted to the conversation she had dreaded.
Luke had only been gone a few days, but the silence in their home had been suffocating.His goodbye kiss still clung to her cheek.The second he walked out of the doors, it was as if all the air in the world had escaped with him.
Luke had been in the military for their entire marriage.He’d joined at the age of eighteen, and this wasn’t his first deployment.Even though he was nearing retirement age, or rather, he was close to his twenty years of service, she was certain that it wouldn’t be his last deployment either.Something about this one felt different to her, though.
Luke would turn thirty-seven next week, and because of the short notice, they hadn’t been able to celebrate.If she sent him a care package, it wouldn’t make it there in time either.She was struggling with that.
Maybe that’s what was making this deployment feel different.Maybe it was because this time, they had kids at home, and the last deployment like this was before they were born.Back then she’d always thought he was indestructible.Now, there was the constant question ofwhat if he doesn’t come back through those doors?
She blew out a long breath, knowing that kind of thinking only led to trouble.She needed to manifest her husband coming right back through those doors, happy, healthy, and in one piece.That’s how she’d gotten through the deployments before.That’s how you survived as a military spouse.
Anna had been meaning to come back to the Vineyard for more visits since her dad had passed, but there was always too much going on at home.She’d begged her mother to come stay with them, but she always protested that she couldn’t leave the pottery studio unmanned.
Anna hadn’t been there for her mother like she should be, like she wanted to be, but mostly because her mother wouldn’t allow her to be.Her mother rarely answered phone calls or attempts at talking about her father; it was like she’d built a stone fort around herself and wouldn’t allow anyone to penetrate it.Not even her own daughter.
“She won’t talk to me either,” Cody had said on the phone a few months ago.“If I didn’t know where the spare key was, she’d probably never let me in the house either.I’m worried about her, sis.So is Margot.She’s lost weight and hardly smiles or laughs anymore.”
“Margot told me.Every time I plan to come home, one of the kids gets sick or something is happening at school, and they can’t miss it.”
“I get it.I’m trying my best.It’s why I came home.”
“I know,” she had murmured before they hung up the phone.
