“No, you weren’t. You were honest, and that’s good.” It didn’t feel good, but it was good. “I do try and control and fix things, and the fact that I do it because I love you doesn’t change the facts. It’s just scary being a mom sometimes, that’s all. I want the best for you. I want your life to be perfect, I don’t want you ever to be unhappy, but that’s ridiculous because of course no one’s life is perfect and no one can be happy all the time.”

“Mom—”

“Can we walk? Just for five minutes.”

Eden took a breath. “Sure. I’m not due in surf school for another hour.”

“We’ll walk back along the beach to the house. That way you won’t be late.” Mel pulled off her shoes and they walked across the sand to the water’s edge. “Remember when we used to do this? Jump in the waves?”

“We haven’t done that since I was twelve.”

“Let’s do it again, right now.” Mel stopped and grabbed her daughter’s hand, but Eden tugged it away, sending a mortified glance around her.

“What are you doing? What is wrong with you? I’m too old to be jumping in the waves with my mother.”

“Right. Yes, of course you are.” She was doing this all wrong and she had no idea what right looked like. “Family has always been the most important thing to me. It’s been the driving force behind most of the decisions I’ve made in my life. And I know that those decisions wouldn’t be for everyone, but it was what I wanted. You once told me that I’d sold out—”

Eden looked uncomfortable. “Do we have to talk about this?”

“I want to talk about this. I want to share my thinking, and then I hope you’ll share yours.” She was simply going to tell her story, and hope that Eden would listen. “I can’t remember when I fell in love with your dad, but it feels as if I’ve been in love with him my whole life. We went off to college, and it was a really happy time, and maybe for a while I did wonder if it would be fun to travel, and get a job on the East Coast, New York or somewhere buzzy and exciting. Your uncle Nate was in Europe and I didn’t see myself working in the Surf Café, except maybe during holidays when I was home from my glitzy life. I wanted more than that, or so I thought. And then I found out I was pregnant.”

“So I ruined your fun?”