Page 77 of Save Me

Patrick: Jeez, it’s like you don’t even trust us

Jamie: That dude is scary. Don’t mess with him

Liam: ??? I feel like there’s a story there

Ryleigh: Yes. One for another time.

Ryleigh: See you all on Sunday!

Ryleigh: Oh, and Ari?

Arianna: Yes?

Ryleigh: You’re in charge of telling Mom you made all these plans without consulting her first. Love you!! ??

“Nice,” Jamie said with a small laugh. “She dropped the bulk of the work on you and then you totally turned it around so she basically had the hard part. You’re kind of an evil genius.”

Grinning, Ryleigh put her phone down. “Remember that.” Going back to the stove, she stirred the pot of chili and then walked over to the oven to check on the quiches she put in there earlier. “I think it was very sweet of Ari to think of something like this and even though Mom is going to balk a little at a catered dinner, it just makes the most sense right now. Otherwise, all the cooking was going to fall on me.”

“The bulk of everything still fell on you,” he reminded her. “You’re just not physically cooking. And those charcuterie boards are time-consuming.”

She shrugged. “Ryker and I have done a few of them and I’m sure if I asked, he’d help me put one together for Sunday.”

Leaning against the large stainless steel prep table, her brother studied her.

“What?” she asked. “Why are you looking at me like that?”

“This is the first time in a really long time that you’re bringing someone home. I think the last guy you brought to a family dinner had to be like…”

“Scott Evans. My senior prom date,” she finished for him. “After that, I was busy with college and working, and Mom was putting pressure on me to find a nice guy and settle down. Most of the men I got serious with, I never brought around.”

“Wow. No wonder she was pressuring you. She thought you never dated.”

That made her completely stop what she was doing. “Really?”

He nodded and then began walking around and wiping down the work stations. “Oh, yeah. She used to talk about it all the time—how you worked too hard and she wished you would put your books down and go out and have some fun.”

“Ugh…why couldn’t she just talk to me like a normal person then instead of attacking?” she said with frustration, even though her brother wasn’t going to have any answers.

“Ry, don’t you remember the way Gram was with her? She used to critique everything Mom did! Clearly it’s genetics. And if you decide to have kids, I’m sure you’ll do your fair share of criticizing.”

“Nuh-uh. No way. Once you grow up like that, you don’t want to do that to your kids.”

“Mom did,” he replied.

Eyes wide, she looked at him. “Oh God. What if it really is like that? What if you can’t help it?” Her hands flew to her stomach as she felt like she was going to be sick. “What if…what if…”

“Hey, hey, hey,” Jamie said calmly as he came over and hugged her. “It’s okay, Ry. No one ever pointed it out to Mom when we were kids, so she probably never even realized she was doing it. But you’ve put it out there and you’ll make the conscious decision not to be like that. You’re much stronger than Mom ever was.”

Pulling back, she stared at him. “You really think so? I mean…she does everything! She handles so much and raised five kids!”

Chuckling softly, he squeezed her shoulder before stepping back. “Ry, a lot of what Mom did when we were growing up was because she had to. She had five kids; there was no way for her to just sit back and chill. Dad was here running the pub and we all spent most of our time here too. I think some of that was just survival mode. But you? You are smart and courageous and you go after what you want. Sure you back down from time to time, but nothing’s ever stopped you from getting what you want.”

At first she wanted to argue, but immediately realized he was right. Her parents hadn’t wanted her to go away to college, so she’d stayed local and got her degree and had her own business, so…that worked out.

“Sometimes I wish I would have gotten to go away like Ari did; you know, just to meet other people,” she admitted.

“And yet she still came back to Laurel Bay because this is where her heart is.”

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