If Liv had married what’s-his-name decades ago, before he shipped out to Vietnam, she might have a daughter now around Jasmyn’s age.
“Foolish thoughts, Olivia.” She spoke aloud to herself. “Foolish thoughts that do you no good whatsoever.”
She and the cute Marine had been wild about each other. If she were the impetuous sort or even a romantic, she would have accepted his proposal. But she was not and she did not. He never contacted her again.
And she never loved anyone as wildly again until Syd.
She sighed and petted Tobi on her lap. They sat in the recliner, both just awake from catnaps. Dusk had fallen and the living room lay in shadows. Outside the bay window the jacaranda tree shone with vertical strands of twinkle lights. An automatic timer lit them and brightened a corner of the courtyard where the source of her foolish thoughts stood with Samantha.
Liv tried not to feel like a beady-eyed private investigator. Snooping simply came with the managerial territory. It was a necessity, right? She managed better if she remained abreast of what was going on.
A small wheeled suitcase was propped beside Samantha. She was probably arriving home after her work week in the desert. Jasmyn, thankfully, had no suitcase in sight.
Not yet anyway.
Liv’s eyes burned and she blinked rapidly so the tears would not fall.
Jasmyn was scheduled to fly back to the Midwest tomorrow. Liv had suggested she stay longer, that the theft experience had interfered with her vacation, that it had subtracted days from her emotional time of R and R, that she owed herself at least another week. Jasmyn only said she needed to get on with her life.
“Lord, she wants to stay. When we ate at Betsy’s Café, she said she could see herself working there. She was dreaming about life here. I know she was. She should give it more time.”
Outside now, Jasmyn and Samantha appeared to be laughing.
Odd. Liv had thought Riley would be the one to tug Jasmyn’s heartstrings. They were closer in age, more alike than different. Jasmyn was small-town sweet and—Liv imagined—a crackerjack of a waitress because she easily put regular people at ease.
Samantha was anything but regular. Mum about her background, overeducated—why the summer postgrad studies?—and consumed with work, she walked around in a Plexiglas bubble.
Hmm.
“Lord, Jasmyn could be a good influence on Samantha. And Samantha could be, well, she might very well be the friend Jasmyn needs. What do You think?”
Liv did not have to sit long with the question. She immediately recognized her dishonesty.
The truth was, ever since Jasmyn’s arrival, a deep loneliness had taken hold of her unlike any she’d known since Syd’s death.
The truth was, she had begun to hope that the something wondrous she assumed was in store for Jasmyn might actually be in store for herself. Was that too foolish? Too selfish?
Yes, but…
“All right. The truth is, Lord, I want a daughter. Jasmyn’s the best candidate. It’s my last season of life and the biological clock seems to be ticking. Better late than never? I don’t know. You’re the one who dropped Jasmyn Albright on my doorstep. So now what?”
There, she’d quit hemming and hawing.
Tears stung again, and this time she let them fall.