“Oh, give it up.” He snorted. “Nobody says that.”

“They do!”

“Fine then. Sorry for trying to financially support this family! And for buying you your grandma’s house.”

She forced herself to hold his gaze. If she closed her eyes she’d lose her nerve. She needed to get this conversation back on track. “You are more than a paycheck. Our son needs you. I need you.”

A wail came from the doorway and the couple looked over to see Lincoln standing there, tears streaming down his face.

“Mommy!” He pressed his hands over his ears.

“Oh, baby.” Sadie flew forward, shame heating her cheeks. “Shhhhh, it’s all okay.”

Annette rounded the corner a nanosecond faster, engulfing Lincoln in her arms and recoiling from Sadie as if she were a rabid raccoon.

“What on earth is going on?” Annette rubbed Lincoln’s back, levelling a glare that could cut glass. “I could hear you two going at it from clear down in the kitchen.”

Ethan turned two shades redder than he’d been just before and he hooked a hand around the back of his neck, clearly unsure who to console, who to appease.

Sadie crossed her arms, resisting the urge to point at her husband and declare that he started it. “What’s unacceptable is your son thinking he can treat me like a doormat,” she declared, directing her words at Ethan. Anger was easier than dealing with his hurtful reaction.

Annette cocked her head. “You’re a mother, so start acting like it. Do you think I ever shouted at Ethan’s dad that way? Of course not. I was grateful for how hard he worked to provide for our family.”

Saint Richard Landry had passed away five years ago, meaning Sadie had never known the man who was by all accounts a legendary husband—maybe too legendary according to Ethan—but Sadie would never venture into “besmirching” Richard’s memory territory not even for the sake of a satisfying comeback.

But she couldn’t stay in this bedroom, this house, a second longer. This space should be safe ground, a refuge, but right now it felt as treacherous as quicksand.

“Excuse me, I have to leave.”

She flew past her mother-in-law, husband, and son, practically falling down the steep staircase and into the foyer.

“Hey! Where are you going?” Ethan called.

“I need air.” She grabbed her keys and purse. She slid into the minivan and headed for town without any clear destination. She watched the cozy cottages pass by in a daze, their gardens backing up to the shores of the ocean. Did everyone assume the people who lived inside them had equally idyllic lives? Let her be the first to burst that bubble.

Chapter Six

Renee plopped the heavy bags of flour and sugar on the conveyor belt before searching through her crowded handbag for the brown leather wallet Tansy had given her last Christmas.

“Looks like you’re baking for quite the crowd tonight.” Renee’s friend Myles Morrison grinned. Myles owned the downtown grocery store, Shopper’s Corner, and swore knowing people’s food purchases could provide the juiciest gossip of all. “Which makes me wonder—why wasn’t I invited?”