“Only a few months, actually. But Sam is a longtime family friend. He was friends with my…my parents,” he said, stumbling over the word slightly. “Before my dad took off.”
It was obviously a tender subject, so Stella didn’t press.
“Sam is a great guy, and he gave me a job at the shop over the summer while I wait for the school year to start back up.”
“Teacher?” she said.
“Baseball coach. Though, teacher could be a good idea one day. Right now, I split my time between coaching and working part-time at the shop. And submitting freelance sports analyst pieces to papers around the country. I’ve had a few published, but it’s just a hobby for now.”
One day. Stella was surprised by how unfamiliar those words sounded.
At what point did she stop thinking about ‘one day’ for herself? For Jace, she thought about it all the time.
One day, he’d go off to college.
One day, he’d get married.
One day, he’d have kids.
All of those things were still ahead for him, and Stella was excited on his behalf, but when did she stop thinking about her own future? When did she stop feeling like she had one at all?
At the end of Main Street, Drew turned left and took a winding road up a small hill. Positioned at the top was a sprawling lawn with a large white manor house in the center. The windows glowed golden in the dim evening light, and life seemed to radiate out from it like a heartbeat. It was a picture. A dream. A wide porch wrapped around the front of the house and around the side, opening onto a patio that looked out on the ocean just down the hill.
“This is home.” Drew pulled his truck around the gravel drive to the back of the house and smiled over at Stella before waving for her to follow him inside.
Before they even got on the porch, though, a woman with coppery blonde hair and an easy smile that mirrored Drew’s walked through the front door. “Hallelujah. Have you brought us another guest, love? There is nothing better than having a full, happy house.”
“This is Stella Pierce. She had some car trouble on the highway.”
“Bad for you, but good for us,” the woman said, extending a hand. “I’m Georgia, Drew’s mom.”
In a matter of minutes, Georgia had Drew carrying Stella’s luggage upstairs and instructed him to send someone named Tasha up to prepare the room. Drew listened without complaint, and it was easy to see that he loved her, but it was also easy to see Georgia was a natural-born leader. She wasn’t afraid to take charge and delegate.
“Sit on the porch with me while we wait,” Georgia said. “I’m a little ashamed to admit it, but I take advantage of my children’s free labor often.”
“What else are kids for?”
Georgia laughed and sank down in a deck chair. “I take it you’re a mom, then?”
“My only child is eighteen. He just left for school.”
“That can be tough. How are you handling it?”
Stella shrugged and gestured around the general area. “About like this, I guess. I tried to take a vacation and ended up with thousands of dollars in repairs.”
“Sounds about right. Every vacation Richard and I ever took, the kids ended up in some kind of disaster. I think that’s part of the reason I decided to take over the inn—to make sure at least one part of someone else’s vacation went right.”
“You and your husband own this place?”
Georgia’s reaction wasn’t as strong as Drew’s was in the car, but it was enough for Stella to know her husband wasn’t in the picture anymore. She smiled. “We did, but now it’s just me. Don’t worry, he isn’t dead or anything. Just…gone.”
The situation would be uncomfortable with anyone else, but Georgia didn’t look offended or upset. She smiled at Stella and shrugged, accepting of her new reality.
“My son’s father played a similar disappearing act,” Stella said. “We were never married, but no matter how the situation plays out, it’s always hard to parent on your own.”
“My kids are grown, but that doesn’t mean as much as I thought it would when they were little.” Georgia looked out on the ocean and smiled at the memories playing in her head. Stella could relate. She still saw flashes of chubby-cheeked Jace as a toddler and long-haired, preteen Jace. “I always thought parenting would be done at eighteen. That I would sit back and watch them live their lives, a spectator. In some cases, it’s true, but in other ways…not so much. I mean, two of them are living with me right now.”
“A lot of kids move back in with their parents.”
“I know, and I’m not ashamed of them. Quite the opposite, actually. They both started over—either by force or by choice—and that takes bravery. Embarking on new opportunities and new dreams is scary, and I’m proud of them for taking that leap.”
Stella couldn’t explain why, but she felt sharp emotions prickling the backs of her eyes. She blinked them away and sat up straight. “It sounds like you embarked on something similar, too. I’m sure they are proud of the way you’ve carried on in the face of adversity.”
“That’s sweet of you to say. I hope so.” Georgia nodded and swallowed, and Stella suspected she was experiencing a similar prickling of emotions. “But what other choice is there, really? Life hands you lemons, and you can either stomp them into the dirt and be left with nothing to show for it, or you juice them, get a big old bowl of egg yolks, and make yourself lemon squares.”
“I’ve never heard of turning lemons into lemon squares.”
“It’s my own spin. I don’t much care for lemonade.”
Stella’s stomach rumbled loudly at the thought of anything edible at all, and she remembered all at once how hungry she was. “I’d eat or drink just about anything right
