The Lighthouse on Moonglow Bay by Lori Wilde

Author:Lori Wilde
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2021-12-30T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 18

Jonnie

TEMPERING: Slowly raising the temperature of an ingredient that is sensitive to heat.

Restlessly, Jonnie paced the wooden platform of the widow’s walk, knowing Harper was watching. She could see her silhouetted in the kitchen window of the keeper’s cottage.

Question. Would Harper investigate?

Jonnie certainly didn’t want to scare her. From what little Jonnie had seen of her intrepid relative, Harper just might come charging up to the lighthouse to confront her.

On the surface, it seemed Harper was afraid of nothing, while Flannery was terrified of her shadow. But Jonnie knew looks could be deceiving. Flannery was a mother and from what Jonnie could tell, a darn good one. A good mom would do anything for her child. Run through fire if needed. She’d never bet against that.

Unable to sleep, and feeling the itch of the old temptations, Jonnie had climbed the lighthouse to get some perspective. Over the past two decades her addiction had been quelled and unless she was attending a meeting, she rarely thought about drinking, but along with the arrival of her kin had come a stirring of the old anxieties.

And the raw fear.

Fight.

Her sobriety was too important to throw away. Not for herself, but for Harper, Flannery, and Willow. They were too important. She had to be present for them. They needed her more than they knew.

And she needed them.

Jonnie shoved a hand through her hair, felt the cool breeze against her face, sucked in a deep breath, and ignored the arthritis aching in her knees. Time to head back down the steps before the pain worsened.

Why had she come up here?

It was a rhetorical question. She knew why, but the answer would sound ridiculous to anyone but herself . . .

And Tia.

Tears pressed against the back of Jonnie’s eyelids, and she just let them fall. Allowed the sorrow and grief to fill her up. The tears had been a long time coming. They were cleansing.

Wrapping her arms around herself, she held on tightly while the emotions pounded at her like the waves against the shoreline. Just as she had as a teen, sleeping in the top room of this leaning tower.

No. Not going there.

Jonnie squelched the memories, crushing them out. Reliving the stories served no purpose. But feeling the pain? Ahh yes, fully letting the emotions embody her until they rolled on through was cathartic.

Just as long as she didn’t wallow.

Hauling in a deep breath, she swiped at her eyes and felt a hard shudder run down her spine.

Was she wrong in what she was doing? It was certainly manipulative. Too much like her mother for Jonnie’s comfort. Grayson was unhappy with her over it and she couldn’t blame him. She’d asked him to compromise his principles for her and he’d done it because he cared about her.

A savage stab in the center of her gut told her she’d hit the crux of the problem. The thing that in the past had urged her to get her hands on alcohol by any means and drown her shame.

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