Healing Hearts: A Second Chance Romance. Book1 of The Willowbrook Series

Chapter 10

Sage

"Did you have a nice time out, lovely?" My mom asks as I walk up the path between the flower beds and manicured lawn on either side. She's smiling that bright cheery smile of hers which I know the garden brings on, it's her pride and joy.

"It was okay." I mumble and make my way towards her.

"Well, did you meet anyone?" Now I know that lilting sounds means did you meet Logan. She's very obvious sometimes. I bet she'd love nothing more for me to start dating Logan again, get married, have the house with the white picket fence and give her some grandchildren.

"He was at Bluebell diner, yes." Her smile broadens, I knew it would. Her eyes are sparkling like I've announced we secretly eloped, got married and made that first grandchild for her. Mom places her garden fork down, wipes her hands on her apron and looks at me.

"And, did you catch up? That's so wonderful." Erg. It wasn't so wonderful for me, and by the look of it, not for him either. He didn't even bother to say hello. Actually nor did Daisy which was a little strange considering we'd always got on so well. I guess she's aligning with her brother on the do not talk to Sage program.

"No, Mom. We didn't catch up. I'm going into make a herbal tea. Do you want anything?" I don't mean to sound so grumpy but truly I am. I can't help it. I'm still hurting so badly from the split with Miles that it sometimes feels as if my heart will stop beating. I've had a missed call from him that I ought to respond to. It's not like we said we'd never speak to each other again. Only, right now I'm not ready to talk with him. It hurts like a knife being driven through my heart. I might go for a run later this evening when it's cooler. Here in Virginia in the summer it can be excruciatingly hot.

"Oh, that's a shame. Be nice to see you two kids get back together." There you have it, no beating around the bush with my mother. She says what she wants, when she wants.

"If you're forgetting, Mom let me just remind you that he chose not to come to Michigan with me." She frowns. Here comes the slant on that.

"I don't think it was quite like that, sweetheart. He didn't want to leave here and you did. It's not as if the two of you couldn't have had a long-distance relationship and figured it out from there. A lot of couples do that you know." I groan and clench my fists because I do not want to hear it. She carries on, "and it was your choice to end the relationship. That poor boy, he was a wreck." I'm almost spitting feathers, I can feel myself getting angry and the colour flushing up my neck and into my face.

I love my mom, but right now I just want her to stop talking about Logan and what I did. I count to ten, release my clenched fists and stretch my fingers out. "I know that, Mom. But it was pointless. Neither one of us was prepared to budge. I didn't see the point. And whilst I'm at it, don't you think my heart broke that day too?" I dash inside the house leaving my mother looking somewhat bewildered. Shit. I shouldn't have lost it with her, my mom is the best and she doesn't deserve a woman being angry with her because of her own stupid decisions she made a decade ago.

Forgoing the herbal tea, I stomp up the stairs as loudly as I can. Yes, very immature I know but sometimes it's called for no matter how old you are. Fling open my bedroom door and literally throw myself on the bed. It bounces from my full body weight hitting it like a tonne of bricks. I lay my head on my arms folded in front of me and start to cry.

I'm crying because maybe I did make the wrong decision back then. Seeing Logan has stirred up a hornet's nest inside my mind, one that I'd like to quell with a fire extinguisher to the head. I'm crying because Miles, who I do still love and I split up. Why do I have to have so much hurt going on right now? Why can't my life be going in the right direction? It was as far as I'm concerned, perfect until just recently.

Blubbering and ugly crying doesn't suit me but I continue. "Darling." My mother says softly from the doorway. "Hush. It's going to be alright." She comes in and sits down on the bed beside me and rubs my back like she used to when I was a child and upset about something. Usually Logan chatting to another girl at school when we were friends and I fancied him. Or if Lisa L a girl a year older than me was picking on me. She picked on everyone the spiteful, nasty bully. I hope she's gone and got herself pregnant with at least ten kids who have snotty, runny noses. Too much for a thirty something year old to think? Okay, probably but I'm crying over everything now and I just can't stop.

"Look, I'll go and make you some nice herbal tea, sweetheart. Why don't you get a book to read and forget about everything for a while. It's going to take time, these things do. Life can be really hard and all the days seem grey, then one morning you will wake up and it will all feel like sunshine and shooting stars."

I love her for trying but it certainly doesn't feel like that will happen for me for a very long time. How long does it take to get over a broken heart anyway? And on top of everything else, I'm supposed to be going out with Ali tonight to The Lazy Duke bar. Great, my eyes will be red, puffy and I'll look like a boxer has taken me out in broad daylight. I blubber some more.

Mom rubs my back, "there, there." It doesn't make me feel any better.

"I just wanted what you and dad have, Mom. That's all. You know I thought I had it with Miles. I really did." I sit up, rest my head on her shoulder and allow my mother to pull me tightly into her. It feels comforting and my tears begin to ease off. For now.