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It wasn’t right. First divorce, now losing her mom. And all her friends could do was sit around and spout platitudes about being thankful. They were welcome to a nice giant-sized helping of her life.
She returned home to find her mother and Sophie cuddled on the couch, Mia supervising Sophie as she worked on crocheting a Granny square.
“Look at my square, Mommy,” she said, holding it up.
Arianna fell onto a chair and tried to smile. “It looks great.”
“You’re back sooner than I thought you’d be,” Mom said.
“We were done,” Arianna lied. She’d been done.
And now her friends were probably done with her. Why had she been such a snot? She sighed inwardly. Once upon a time she’d been...nicer.
She wasn’t the only woman in the world to go through hard times. She wasn’t the first woman in the world to be facing losing someone she loved, and she wouldn’t be the last. This was life. And what made her so special that she couldn’t share space at the pity party with her friends? Honestly, had she really had the nerve to minimize everything they’d gone through? She was out of control.
Sunny was right. They needed to concentrate on things they could be thankful for. She needed to concentrate on things she could be thankful for. She’d survived divorce and moved on and was doing good things with her life. She was seeing the best man since God created Adam. Her mother had given her a great life growing up and she had a darling daughter.
And good friends she didn’t deserve.
She jumped up. “I’ll be right back.”
“Where are you going, Mommy?” Sophie asked.
“I need to do something.”
Ten minutes later she was ringing Sunny’s doorbell. Sunny opened the door and her eyes flew open.
“I’m sorry,” Arianna said. Sorry and pathetic. “You should all hate me. I hate me.”
“We don’t and you shouldn’t. Come on in.”
She followed Sunny back to the table where Molly and Ava were seated. “I’m sorry,” she wailed. “I’m a horrible person.”
“Oh, you are not,” Molly said, waving away her self-loathing.
“It’s okay,” Sunny told her. “We all have our moments, and we know you’re under a lot of pressure.”
“That’s no excuse for the way I acted. One of the biggest blessings in my life is all of you and I feel terrible for insulting you. I’m sorry for what I said.” She fell onto the nearest chair, grabbed a napkin and blew her nose.
“We all say things we shouldn’t once in a while,” Ava said, looking at Molly.
“I want to be thankful, I really do. I don’t want to focus on how empty the glass is. I want to focus on what’s left in it. Help me get through this, you guys. Please.”
Sunny laid a hand on her arm. “You know we will.”
The twenty-fifth of November was the day after Thanksgiving. The women decided to make a day of it, starting with lunch. After a quick game for the kids, the party would be moved to the rehab center so Reggie could be a part of their celebration.
But first there was Thanksgiving. Molly, Ava and Paisley celebrated it at the rehab center with Reggie. He burst into tears at the sight of them.
“My girls,” he said happily.
“Look at you, all dressed up with that bow tie,” Ava said.
“Your mama gave it to me. She’s gonna make sure I look like a successful man of the world.”
“I made you a card,” Paisley said, handing over her creation, which boasted a turkey traced from her hand, colored in brown and tan.
