Read Online Summer at the Heartbreak Cafe: Summer Sweet Romance (Lakeview Contemporary Romance Book 0) by Melissa Hill - Free Book Online
Authors: Melissa Hill
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of you do need to spend quality time together, after all that’s what holidays are for. To bond and remember why you’re together. So he’s not entirely off the hook.” She smiled.” I’m just trying to be devil’s advocate, try and see things from his point of view. So perhaps we should try to wear his shoes for a moment and look at things as he might.”
They were both quiet, and Ella knew that Marianne was trying to absorb all that she had told her. After several minutes, she spoke. “What can I do, what’s the way forward for us now in our marriage, if our life goals are suddenly so different?”
Ella laughed softly. She wished things were as simple as that, but they weren’t. Marriage was not like the work place, where colleagues could sit down together in the conference room and brainstorm.
“I wish I knew. This one you have to work out for yourself. I’m sure you will though.”
“How do you know that?”
“Because you’ve already done the most important thing in any relationship or marriage,” Ella said, standing up.
“Ah, don’t leave me in the dark like this,” Marianne pleaded.
“You’ve shifted your outlook from yours to his. You understand his side of the story. You know why he’s the way he is, and it’s definitely nothing personal.” With that, and a parting squeeze on the younger girl’s shoulder, she glided away.
15
“ M ummy can we go outside ?” Josh pleaded.
“Mummy, look what I can do…” Jake ordered.
Grace’s head throbbed and felt like it would explode. She wiped the cottage countertop with more force, hoping to transfer all her negative feelings to the marble kitchen counters.
“Mummy—”
“Mummy—”
They started again, their voices rising as if in competition to see who would speak to her first. To Grace, their voices sounded like hammers, banging mercilessly inside her brain.
“Listen, we can’t do either of those things, first because I need to finish cleaning up the house, secondly, Josh you know that mummy can’t swim and daddy’s not here to take you to the pool,” Grace said, hoping that was the end of it.
“I want swimming…” the boys chanted, coming nearer.
“Just… please…stop it!”
Her loud voice shocked them into silence. Horrified by the anger in her, Grace dropped the cloth, and raced out of the room. Going upstairs she went to her room and threw herself face down on the double bed.
She let the tears come. Why was it so difficult for her to manage the twins? They were her children for crying out loud! She more than anyone else, should know them by now.
When her cries subsided, she thought back to yesterday at the cafe when the boys were with Marianne. They had all seemed so relaxed.
What had so upset her was Marianne’s reaction when the boys had started kicking their feet under the table. She had laughed and let them be. Her own reaction would have been anxiety that they’d hurt each other or break something in the café.
Grace knew she over reacted, Kevin had told that her enough times. But now hearing it from strangers, such as the nice café owner Ella, she felt that there was something there.
She saw her moments with the boys since they’d come to Lakeview, in flash shots. That first day at the café when a sugar bowl had broken, making her shout at them.
People here must think she was crazy. She remembered how Ella had shepherded them all away from the other customers’ attention and listened to her while she ranted. A clear image of her at the park, searching frantically for her son before Marianne came along and uncovered his hiding place and she had bawled like a baby.
She cringed at how quickly she had handed her boys over to people that she barely knew, just to get away from that feeling of being overwhelmed.
Grace sighed. When had all this anxiety started? And why did she notice it here more than back home? Sure there was Kevin and Maria, but she still spent a considerable amount of time with the
They were both quiet, and Ella knew that Marianne was trying to absorb all that she had told her. After several minutes, she spoke. “What can I do, what’s the way forward for us now in our marriage, if our life goals are suddenly so different?”
Ella laughed softly. She wished things were as simple as that, but they weren’t. Marriage was not like the work place, where colleagues could sit down together in the conference room and brainstorm.
“I wish I knew. This one you have to work out for yourself. I’m sure you will though.”
“How do you know that?”
“Because you’ve already done the most important thing in any relationship or marriage,” Ella said, standing up.
“Ah, don’t leave me in the dark like this,” Marianne pleaded.
“You’ve shifted your outlook from yours to his. You understand his side of the story. You know why he’s the way he is, and it’s definitely nothing personal.” With that, and a parting squeeze on the younger girl’s shoulder, she glided away.
15
“ M ummy can we go outside ?” Josh pleaded.
“Mummy, look what I can do…” Jake ordered.
Grace’s head throbbed and felt like it would explode. She wiped the cottage countertop with more force, hoping to transfer all her negative feelings to the marble kitchen counters.
“Mummy—”
“Mummy—”
They started again, their voices rising as if in competition to see who would speak to her first. To Grace, their voices sounded like hammers, banging mercilessly inside her brain.
“Listen, we can’t do either of those things, first because I need to finish cleaning up the house, secondly, Josh you know that mummy can’t swim and daddy’s not here to take you to the pool,” Grace said, hoping that was the end of it.
“I want swimming…” the boys chanted, coming nearer.
“Just… please…stop it!”
Her loud voice shocked them into silence. Horrified by the anger in her, Grace dropped the cloth, and raced out of the room. Going upstairs she went to her room and threw herself face down on the double bed.
She let the tears come. Why was it so difficult for her to manage the twins? They were her children for crying out loud! She more than anyone else, should know them by now.
When her cries subsided, she thought back to yesterday at the cafe when the boys were with Marianne. They had all seemed so relaxed.
What had so upset her was Marianne’s reaction when the boys had started kicking their feet under the table. She had laughed and let them be. Her own reaction would have been anxiety that they’d hurt each other or break something in the café.
Grace knew she over reacted, Kevin had told that her enough times. But now hearing it from strangers, such as the nice café owner Ella, she felt that there was something there.
She saw her moments with the boys since they’d come to Lakeview, in flash shots. That first day at the café when a sugar bowl had broken, making her shout at them.
People here must think she was crazy. She remembered how Ella had shepherded them all away from the other customers’ attention and listened to her while she ranted. A clear image of her at the park, searching frantically for her son before Marianne came along and uncovered his hiding place and she had bawled like a baby.
She cringed at how quickly she had handed her boys over to people that she barely knew, just to get away from that feeling of being overwhelmed.
Grace sighed. When had all this anxiety started? And why did she notice it here more than back home? Sure there was Kevin and Maria, but she still spent a considerable amount of time with the
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