LITMIR.BIZ

      I lock up the café. The icy wind blows my hair back as I dash to the truck. After spending the afternoon mulling it over, I know I have to talk to Damon, and sort everything out. My heart aches just thinking of him. I hate fighting, and I want to make it better. But there’s no way I’m kowtowing when it comes to his mother.

      Arriving home, I see the house is lit up. I sigh, relieved — for a moment I thought maybe he might have stayed elsewhere.

      I walk inside. Damon’s on the sofa in the front room.

      “Hey,” he says.

      “Hey.”

      “Are we going to fix this?” He pats the cushion next to him.

      I take my parka off and throw it on the end of the sofa. “I hope so.”

      “Lil, why would you think my mother would do something like that? You make her sound like some kind of monster.”

      I take my time replying, remembering CeeCee’s stern warning about if our roles were reversed. “Since that first night in the café, she’s been dishing out all these little comments that make me question everything. Bessie told me your mother walked in and started giving her instructions about my dress, Damon! You can go and ask her yourself! And she wanted to move the venue from day one, and then suddenly someone cancels Guillaume, from an email account in my name, that isn’t actually my account? She wanted to make sure you were happy here. She said that to me. I feel like a fool, Damon. At first I doubted myself, sure I was reading too much into it, but now I am certain it’s her. And then there’s the doubt about you. Why did you say all those things to me when we first met if they weren’t true?” As hard as it is to have this conversation, I feel better laying my cards on the table. I have to know Damon will support me now and forever. And I need to know where I stand.

      “Lil, I had planned on moving here, but, like I said, I was going to go back and forth, if it was financially viable. But then I met you. We fell in love, and I had no intention of leaving after that. When I said I loved it here, and I wanted Charlie to have the experience of growing up somewhere safe, a town where people look out for one another, I meant it. I’d hoped that once she was old enough she might like to move here too. I don’t want to move back to New Orleans, but sometimes, when we’re fussing over sales figures, or worrying about the catering income, I yearn for a shop that makes a decent living because it’s in a busy town. And that’s all I meant by it.”

      I close my eyes, partly mollified by his answer, until I remember his mother, and her attempts to destroy the wedding. And maybe our relationship too. “Your mother managed to plant all these seeds of doubt. And you don’t trust me. You believe your mother. I don’t know how I’m supposed to get over that.”

      “I do trust you, Lil. But saying my mother is responsible for cancelling the venue…it’s just not possible.”

      I resist the urge to scream in frustration. “Not just that, the other stuff too.”

      He sighs. “She’s says she didn’t do it, Lil. I know my mother — she’s not like that.”

      “Well, who else would do it?”

      “Let’s just leave it for now.”

      Four days. And everything is up in the air. I’m angry at Damon. How can we just leave it? His mother for reasons unknown is set on ruining us and he doesn’t even care. “I’m going to lie down. I’m not feeling great.”

      “Lil…”