“Every color has meaning. Green is envy. White purity. Blue contentment. But red is rare and especially hard to find. It means love. Oh, Oscar, I know how much you love Devon. I see it every time you look at her, but my daughter… she has sand in her veins. Give her this opportunity. Let her get it out of her system and then she’ll be ready to settle down.”
He inhaled and tried to get a grip on the emotions her words had brought about. “In New York,” he stated.
“No, no. We won’t let that happen. We’ll convince her to come home. You’ll see.”
But that hadn’t happened. And he hated that it would be yet another aspect Rayna Jo would have to remember. That only one of her daughters lived in town, though Dara traveled quite a bit for work and was rarely home. “I, um, should get back to work. And you should be resting, Rayna Jo. Not worrying about us.”
“A mother always worries, dear.”
“Hey, Oz, have you seen— Mama, there you are,” Devon said. “She’s in the study,” Devon called.
Dara’s footsteps hurried down the hall, and she poked her head into the room next.
Devon and Dara looked so similar yet so different, mostly because one had in fact broken him, then left with the tide as Rayna Jo had said.
“Hey. Are we interrupting?” Dara asked.
“Never,” Rayna Jo said to her girls. “Come join us.”
“Actually, Mama, you should eat something. I heated up some of Mary Elizabeth’s famous homemade potato soup. Would you like some?”
Dara entered and gently ushered Rayna Jo out of the room, but Devon stood just inside the doorway, silent.
“I’m going to head out and try to get this done tonight if I can,” he said, indicating the scribbled sheets.
“Thank you. For writing it.”
“Of course.” He narrowed his gaze on her and stepped forward. “You okay?”
“Fine.”
“Want to talk about it?”
“No.”
He shoved his hands into his front pockets to keep himself from reaching for her. He hated that she kept so much bottled up inside. She always had. “Have you heard from your—Ted?”
“I don’t want to talk about it,” she said.
“Devon, it’s not healthy for you or Dara to push all of this down just because of your mom’s reaction.”
“I don’t think it would help anyone if Dara or I lost it, too.”
“Fine, but you still need to talk. If not to me or Dara, then find someone. Anyone.”
She turned as though to go but paused.
“I heard what Mama said to you. About the glass. I’m sorry I hurt you. I wish I could go back and… handle it better.”
“You were right to not to let anyone curtail your dreams.”
“I was. But I was awful about it, too. Dara told me you… you waited at the airport for my arrival. That’s where you were when I called things off. I am truly sorry, Oz.”
“It wasn’t the best day, I’ll admit.”
“I know. I just… gambled on you loving me enough to follow me to New York even though I knew you didn’t want to leave Carolina Cove. Truthfully, I think I tried to make you move to the city by applying for that job, even though we’d already discussed where we’d live, and you made it clear you didn’t want to leave.”
He wasn’t sure what to say except, “It wasn’t a matter of not loving you enough, Devon.”