Even as she mentally chided herself for not checking caller ID, she said, “Hi, Mom. How was your holiday?”
“The more important question is how was yours? Not that it was much of a holiday, I’m sure. I imagine you were putting in ridiculously long days.”
Liz let the familiar refrain wash over her, pretending that the attitude didn’t hurt.
“I honestly don’t know why you thought any of this was a good idea,” Doris Benson continued. “Everyone I’ve ever known who worked in retail says it’s incredibly demanding, and that’s without the added pressure of it being your own business. I’ve left a couple of messages over the weekend, but I assume you were too exhausted to call back.”
Though her mother never meant to instill guilt in her offspring, she managed to do it just the same.
“To be honest, I haven’t even checked my messages,” Liz told her, her face as flushed as if she’d been caught with her hand in that old chintz cookie jar that had sat on her mom’s kitchen counter for years. “You’re right about the exhaustion. Being on my feet all day has been tougher than I thought it would be. I thought being in a classroom would have prepared me, but it didn’t come close.”
Even as she made the admission, she knew it had been a mistake. Of course, her mother seized on it.
“If this is turning out to be so difficult, are you still sure it’s what you want?” Doris asked, her voice finally filled with genuine concern, rather than judgment. “There’s no harm in changing your mind. I’m sure you could get your old job back. I ran into your principal the other day, and she said they would absolutely love to have you whenever you’re ready. Everyone at that school loved you, you know.”
Liz sighed at the exaggeration. She’d butted heads with parents, other teachers and that very same principal on too many occasions to count. The only thing she’d truly loved about the job had been the kids, most of them so eager to learn and open to new ideas.
Hanging on to her patience by a thread, she said, “Mom, I’m not coming back to Charlotte, and I don’t want to teach again. This is the life I want, and this is where I want to be. This weekend may have been exhausting, but it was in a good way. Seeing a dream come to life and realizing that the shop was going to be a success was amazing.”
“But, sweetheart, your family is here. We miss you. And you shouldn’t be alone right now.”
“I’m hardly alone. I’ve made a lot of friends.”
“That doesn’t make up for family.”
“No, it’s not the same,” she agreed, though right this second she rejoiced that it wasn’t the same. That wasn’t something she was about to tell her overprotective, easily offended mother, though. “Why don’t you and Dad come for a visit some weekend? You’ll fall in love with Chesapeake Shores the same way I have. And I’m dying to show off my house and the shop. Maybe then you’ll understand.”
“You know how your father hates to travel.”
“Then bring LeeAnn and Danielle. We could have a girls’ weekend.”
“Won’t you be too busy for that?” Doris asked, though she did sound tempted.
Her reaction was enough to encourage Liz to press a little harder. “I’ll have to work during the day, yes, but you could shop or just enjoy being by the bay. There are some wonderful restaurants you could try. We’d have our evenings together. We could play Scrabble or poker, the way we used to when we’d go to the beach on vacation.”
Her mother sighed. “I’ll think about it and speak to your sisters. You know how busy they are, though. The kids keep them hopping. I’m not sure their husbands would be willing to take over, even for a couple of days.”
“Then they’re married to the wrong men,” Liz said without thinking.
“What a terrible thing to say!” her mother replied. “You know better.”
Liz didn’t know better, but it was an argument she wasn’t likely to win. Besides, her sisters seemed happy enough with their marriages. It truly wasn’t her place to suggest they’d settled, too eager to walk down the aisle to wait for the right men to come along. Seriously, how could she even hint at such a thing when her own supposedly perfect marriage had turned out to be such a sham?
“I’m sorry,” she apologized. “Please don’t mention it.”
“Of course not,” her mom said. “I’m not going to stir up trouble.”
“I hope you can come, though,” Liz said. “Promise me you’ll try.”
“I’ll do my best, sweetheart. You take care of yourself. Don’t work too hard. And don’t forget to call me once in a while. Otherwise I’ll worry.”
As Liz hung up, she couldn’t help noting that her mom had never actually asked how the holiday weekend at the store had gone. Even if Liz had shared the final sales tally with her, she doubted her mother would have been pleased. She sometimes wondered if her family wasn’t hoping that she’d fail just so she’d come home again.
Well, that, she thought with renewed determination, simply wasn’t going to happen. The doubts she’d harbored over the winter had been wiped away by the weekend’s success. A glance at her very healthy deposit slip for tomorrow morning, which didn’t even include the credit card sales, reassured her once again that she was right where she belonged.
* * *
Aidan had been expecting a visit from Porter Hobbs on Tuesday morning, but he hadn’t expected Rob Larkin to accompany him. Now the three of them were crammed into the small coach’s office.
Rob gave Aidan a sympathetic look, then sat back. “Okay, Porter, say your piece. We need to let Coach Mitchell get
