Page 19 of Storm Season

Jo got out her phone and waited for Lauren to answer. She explained that she needed to be away for a few hours and would Lauren mind coming in around ten? She flashed her dad the “thumbs up” sign, thanked Lauren profusely, and hung up.

“She said she could be here and can work as long as need be. She doesn’t have children and her husband works on the ferry, so she’s got plenty of time today,” Jo said. “I’ll be here until then. Tell Mom I’ll come over as soon as Lauren gets here and I’ll try to keep an open mind.”

Jo gave Mike a grateful smile. “ I am really happy you’re not leaving, Dad. And I want this to be a good conversation with Mom no matter what she is thinking about Chris.”

Mike smiled again. “That’s a good attitude to have, Jo,” he said. “I’m going to head over to that breakfast place just down the street and have a big breakfast because I know your mom wouldn’t approve. The scampi last night was terrific but I’m hungry again as usual. And the yogurt you two eat just doesn’t cut it for me.”

Jo allowed herself to laugh a bit. “She has always tried to keep you nice and thin, Dad. And it’s working. So, I think a big breakfast now and then won’t hurt.”

The office phone began to ring. Mike nodded to her and headed out and Jo settled into the office routine. She was amazed when Lauren walked through the door.

“Aren’t you early?” she asked Lauren.

“Well, if you call ten minutes to ten early, I guess I am,” Lauren replied.

“Oh, good grief. I can’t believe it’s almost ten. This morning has been unreal. Let me go over a few things with you so you’ll be up to speed. Tomorrow we will be nearly full. Can you believe it?”

She quickly caught Lauren up with messages left, return calls expected, housekeeping assignments, and small maintenance issues that Art, the maintenance man, was tending to.

“Take all the time you need, Jo,” Lauren told Jo. “I can be here until closing. Enjoy your parents. Special times.”

Jo nodded. “I’ll text you and keep you posted. Thanks again.” Then she started across the road for her conversation with SeaAnna. It was another gorgeous day and that helped to lift her spirits. She knocked on the door of her parents’ room and SeaAnna opened it but immediately stepped out onto the porch.

“I thought it was such a lovely day, we’d just take a nice walk on the beach,” SeaAnna said. “You don’t mind, do you?”

“No, not at all,” Jo replied. She was glad to be out in the fresh air, more in her element by the ocean and its calming waves. “I hope you got some sleep. Dad said you kept late hours last night.”

“We did,” SeaAnna said as they made their way from the steps to the beach. “Jo, I had, and still have, so much to process.” SeaAnna sighed. “I see how you are with your dad. You know, I’ve never experienced those feelings, those emotions. I don’t know what it’s like to have a dad.” SeaAnna stopped and placed her hands on Jo’s shoulders.

“I’ve missed so much. And it was always so easy to blame him, the father I didn’t know.” Dropping her arms, SeaAnna resumed her walk and Jo followed.

After a few seconds, SeaAnna said, “Now I find out there’s really no one to blame, it was all just one big communications breakdown. I don’t know how to feel.”

She took her hand and brushed a loose strand of hair from Jo’s face. “But one thing I do know is that you and I, we need to make a fresh start. Somewhere along the way, I messed up on the mother-daughter thing and I need to fix that. But I don’t know how I messed up and I need you to tell me where I went wrong.”

“You didn’t go wrong, Mom,” Jo answered. “I was the one who went wrong. And for a very stupid reason. Do you remember telling me when I was twelve or thirteen that we had this big fight?”

“We did?” SeaAnna looked like she was concentrating hard. “I don’t think I remember that.”

“We were really going at each other, screaming back and for the. I know I said some things I regret and then you told me something I could never look past.”

“I did? What did I say?”

Almost whispering, eyes on the sand below her feet, Jo said, “You told me I was a mistake. “SeaAnna gasped, but Jo wasn’t done yet. She needed to say this, she needed to know. “You said that you’d never wanted kids. That you’d messed up with your birth control or something.” Tears were now streaming down Jo’s face as she remembered that day and the pain that was still so raw. “You said you were a mistake for Gran and now you’d made a similar mistake with me.”

“I’m sorry,” Sea Anna tried to say through the tears that ran down her face. But Jo wasn’t listening.

“I remember as soon as you said it, you stopped and tried to apologize but I just couldn’t ever forgive or forget what you said.”

SeaAnna looked at Jo intently, both visibly trying to contain the emotions running through them. “I really said what?”

“Yeah. I don’t even remember what the fight was about anymore. But you said that. I was just never able to forget it. It hurt a lot. And as days and weeks and months passed, the angrier and more hurt I got until I decided that I just didn’t want to be with you or talk to you or really have anything to do with you. You said you were sorry but I just didn’t believe it.”

SeaAnna walked for several minutes before turning to Jo. “If I tell you I have no memory of that incident, you may not believe me. But, Jo, I don’t. Moms and teenage girls argue all the time and say things they don’t mean. How could you possibly be a mistake? I’m so proud of you and who you are, what you do, and how you have stepped up with the responsibility of the motel this summer. Do you mean that one argument is what this has been about all these years?”

Now it was Jo’s turn to walk along silently. Then she spoke. “I guess that’s what started it. But I always felt like you were trying to push me away, to boarding school and then to camps and whatnot and then here for the summers.”

“But I thought you enjoyed school,” said SeaAnna. “It gave you a great head start for college, look at where you are now after just one year. You’re way ahead and doing great. And I thought you enjoyed the camps too. You made friends so easily. Not at all like me. And please don’t tell me you didn’t enjoy the summers with your Gran.”

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