Lakeshore Chronicles 03 - Dockside by Susan Wiggs

Author:Susan Wiggs [Wiggs, Susan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2011-10-28T01:40:42+00:00

Yet it was not the sort of conversational leap you could avoid. She moved aside her glass and studied his face, wondering what to say, how to react. What about your ex? She nearly asked the question aloud, although it was none of her business. Still, Nina found herself wondering about Daisy’s mother. If this had been Sonnet, wild horses couldn’t keep Nina from her side. But every family was unique, she reminded herself. Each had its own distinctive emotional landscape, its own geography.

“So, um, how do you feel about that?” she asked Greg, suspecting he hadn’t broached the topic because he wanted her opinion, but because he simply needed to talk.

“It just feels crazy. I mean, how can I not go crazy when my own daughter’s asking me to be her birth coach? I have no idea what I’m doing. My worst problem used to be making a deadline at work, getting Max to do his vocabulary homework or convincing Daisy not to dye her hair blue. That all seems trivial now that I have to go to class to learn about prolapsed cords and demand feeding.” He flashed a look that had a curious effect on Nina. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to go on.”

She cleared her throat. “What did you do when Max was born? You must have been there for his birth.”

“I was, but this is different. This is my daughter. I feel guilty as hell, you know? I’m the one who let her go away to Long Island that weekend with her friends—”

“Oh, no,” she said, “you are not going there. It’s no one’s fault. You can blame whatever you want, but everybody knows there are few things quite so powerful as a teenager’s sex drive. No high school girl asks to get pregnant. So just move on from all the blame and the guilt.”

“I thought I had. I don’t know what to tell her besides the fact that I love her and want only the best for her.”

“Have you told her that?” Nina asked.

“Yeah, of course.”

“I mean, have you really told her like you mean it, or was it just something you said?”

“Of course I meant it.”

“But you definitely have a preference about how you wish she’d handle this.” She couldn’t help remembering the way her family had been—hurt and scared and angry and so deeply disappointed in her. And she remembered her reaction, the utter determination to prove herself. She had no doubt Greg’

s daughter was going through the same things. “I know you don’t want to hear it, but Daisy will handle things herself, in her own way. She’ll probably go off on her own and—”

“She’s not going anywhere.”

“Well, guess what, Greg? It’s not up to you. Every single member of my family wanted to help me.

I had a chance to work at my brother’s car lot, or as a teacher’s aide for my dad, or at my sister’s salon…I was so grateful that they cared but ultimately, I had to go my own way.

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