‘He’s a great kid, you should be proud of him Joan, but you might also want to get a little more involved maybe.’ Vanessa tried again.

‘Don’t tell me how to parent my kid. Ever.’ She replied calmly without even looking up.

Vanessa turned, checked to see where Mark was – he was nowhere in sight – and stormed out of the bar.

‘I was just so annoyed, no, angry,’ she said to Maggie over coffee. She was so happy her and Maggie were close again. It was just like being back in high school, where they would talk for hours, unloading all their worries when they were together. ‘The kid is at our house every day, not that I mind, but he spends all of his time with us and she doesn’t care what he’s up to.’

‘Not everyone is cut out to be a parent,’ Maggie said, ever the voice of reason. ‘Not everyone picks it up easily – some have to work harder at it.’

‘Well, she’s not working at it at all.’

Rant over, Vanessa made a comment about the cookies she was eating. ‘They taste familiar,’ she said.

‘Actually, they’re from one of your mom’s recipes that I found.’

The cookie stuck to the inside of Vanessa’s mouth for a moment before she swallowed it.

‘Your dad said it would be fine if I went through her recipe book. I can only make a few things well – I think he was getting sick of them after all these years, he was just too polite to say so.’ She was babbling now, trying to cover up her embarrassment.

‘It’s fine, Maggie.’

Maggie breathed a sigh of relief. ‘I know it’s weird sometimes, us living here, but it’s working for us all and your dad seems much happier than he was.’ Vanessa couldn’t argue with her there.

‘It’s fine, really. You’re part of the furniture now,’ Vanessa laughed, attempting to make Maggie feel more comfortable. Vanessa stayed a little longer, deciding to enjoy the cookie and memories of sharing them with her mom. She was creating new memories, but they would never erase the old.

14

Wren’s seventeenth birthday was rapidly approaching, and Vanessa really wanted to give him a birthday to remember. He had told her that he was happy to have a family party with Justin and Wade over, but she wanted to make it special, so one afternoon when Wren was in the bathroom, she asked Justin what she should do.

‘Well, I reckon we throw a real party. He loves parties. No drinking or anything, I swear,’ he said, covering his heart for a brief moment. ‘But a bunch of his friends, and Olivia for sure. Damn, he loves that girl. He needs to get some,’ then Justin remembered who he was talking to and his face went brick red. Vanessa suppressed a laugh.