“I guess we’re moving, then,” David said.
Her brows arched. “Seriously?”
“Yes. If it’s really what you want.”
It was. She wanted to get as far away from Jane as possible. And she wanted her family back. She closed the distance between them and curled her arms around his waist. “I love you.”
“I love you, too.”
Hours later, Nora called her family to dinner. She had set the dining room table using the good dishes and cloth napkins. At the center of the table was Hailey’s favorite arugula and watermelon salad, baked potatoes, and filet mignon. Her son’s face lit up when he saw the steak and potatoes. Nora happily watched him dig in.
“What are we celebrating?” Trevor asked, seemingly delighted by the turn of events, since they hardly ever sat down together as a family anymore.
“She’s trying to outdo Jane,” Hailey said, reaching for the salad.
Nora ignored her. “Trevor is right. This is a celebration feast. Any guesses?”
Hailey filled her plate with salad and a baked potato. “You got a raise, and you and Dad are going to buy me a car, since I’ll be driving soon.”
“Afraid not,” Nora said.
Trevor brightened. “We’re all going to Disneyland, and we’re leaving first thing in the morning. After we eat, we need to go to our rooms and pack.”
Nora laughed.
“What would you do in Disneyland,” Hailey asked her brother, “without all your high-tech games and digital technology?”
“Disneyland is one of the happiest places on earth, which is why you have no desire to go there.” Trevor looked at Nora. “Is that it? Are we going to Disneyland?”
“No. Sorry.”
Trevor’s head fell back in exaggerated disappointment so that he was staring up at the ceiling. He uttered a long groan for good measure.
“Stop being so dramatic,” Hailey scolded.
Trevor lifted his head, and they all stared at David, waiting for him to take a guess.
“I’m going to let your mom tell you.”
“Well, I’m not going to take another guess,” Hailey said, “so what’s going on?”
Nora felt suddenly as if she were trying to convince a roomful of board members to give her plan the go-ahead instead of her kids. “Since taking on a new job, I’ve realized I haven’t had much time to hang out with all of you, and it’s unacceptable.” Nora glanced at her husband. “Dad and I used to enjoy a date night every week, and yet I can’t remember the last time we got dressed up and went to dinner alone. Trevor and I never have time for long walks with Tank. And”—her gaze fell on Hailey—“when was the last time we made bowls of buttered popcorn and watched movies on a Friday night?”
Hailey shrugged. “All of us are busy, Mom. It’s not just you. And we’re all doing just fine.”
“I like Mom being home more,” Trevor said.
Hailey rolled her eyes. “Because you’re lazy and don’t want to make your own sandwich when you get home from school.”
“Let your mom finish,” David cut in.
“Thank you,” Nora said. “We’re celebrating tonight because today I gave Jane my two-week notice.”
Hailey dropped her fork on her plate. “You quit your job?”
“Yes. And that’s not all,” Nora said. “We’re going to sell the house and move to Whispering Pines so I can help Grandma take care of Grandpa.”
“What about school?” Hailey wanted to know.
Nora anchored a loose strand of hair behind her ear. “I’ll be free to drive you two back and forth for the remainder of the school year. I thought you’d be happy, since you’ve been begging to be transferred to a different high school since your freshman year. I believe you said your classmates were mean and your teachers didn’t challenge you enough.”
“I changed my mind.”
“Because of your boyfriend, Alex?”
Hailey narrowed her eyes. “He’s not my boyfriend.”
“Then why are you guys always kissing?” Trevor asked.
Hailey blushed and then jumped to her feet and tossed her napkin on the chair. “I’m not leaving. If you sell the house, I’ll move in with Jane.”
Nora’s heart skipped a beat. “You will do no such thing.”
Hailey looked at her dad as if she hoped he would jump to her defense.
“Sit down,” David said, “and let’s discuss this calmly.”
Trevor, Nora noticed, appeared to be entertained by it all, eating his dinner, chin to plate, watching the scene unfold, his gaze falling on whoever was speaking.
Hailey gestured toward Nora but kept her gaze pinned on David. “How can we talk this over calmly when Mom is making demands like that? She hates Auntie Jane because Auntie Jane is everything she is not: kind and generous and always there for us. It’s not fair.”
Nora drew in a breath, then inwardly counted to three as she exhaled. So there it was, just as Nora had suspected, the truth of the matter. Jane had managed, in a matter of months, to swoop in and replace her.
“We’re moving,” Nora said, pushing herself to her feet. “The house will be put on the market by the end of the month.” She hadn’t called a broker yet, but she would do so first thing in the morning.
Hailey’s words had cut to the core of why she had quit her job at IMPACT. She wanted . . . needed . . . to get her family as far away from Jane as possible.
And the sooner the better.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
The next few weeks passed in a blur, giving Nora little time to worry about Hailey’s moodiness. Throw in Christmas approaching and it only tripled the madness. Every day at 5:00 a.m., Nora jumped out of bed at the sound of her alarm and then proceeded to run around at a nonstop pace until bedtime. Once her parents had been moved into the cottage, she had hired a roofer and a painter and driven back and forth between Sacramento and Whispering Pines, doing her best to eat meals with her family in order to stay connected.
Surprisingly, Nora and Jane had been able to find common ground when it came to work, which allowed Nora the space needed to use her office to interview candidates to take her place while helping David to ready their own house and get it on the market.
Today was Saturday. Christmas was approaching quickly, and despite having so much to do, Nora was excited about the Harmon family spending the holidays in Whispering Pines. She was in the kitchen, wrapping dishes in packing paper, when David joined her.
“Where are the kids?” David asked.
“Hailey and Trevor are packing up their rooms, labeling boxes and taking them to the garage.”
He looked around. “Do you need help in here?”
“If you could get started on sorting through everything in the garage, that would be great.”
“Aye-aye, Captain.”
She smiled. “Thanks for being a good sport about all of this.”
“If it were my parents going through tough times, I would want to be near them, too. We’re a team, right?”
The look in his eyes expressed that he wanted things to be okay between them. His lies, or what he liked to call his “attempt to not stress her out further,” had put a strain on their relationship. How many more secrets was he hiding? she wondered. How could two people be a team if they didn’t communicate? But now wasn’t the time to question and analyze, so she nodded and said, “Yes. We’re a team.”