Page 78 of You've Got Hate Mail
“Don’t apologize,” she says quietly. “I get it. We’ll miss you, but I get it.”
I pinch the bridge of my nose.
She knows what I’m thinking.
We’re friends.
But more than that, she’s watched residents come and go here for far longer than I’ve been here.
She recognizes the signs when they’re ready to move on.
Not that I’m ready.
I’m not.
I like it here.
Being here is easy. There’s always someone to watch Lav for me if I need them to, someone who knows my daughter and her unique peculiarities, and then the only thing I have to deal with is the guilt that I can’t do it all by myself and the pressing need to pay them back for it.
I’ll have that no matter where I go.
“I won’t leave you high and dry with anything you need to do to get ready for this wedding.”
“We’ll make it work even if you do.”
The idea that I’d leave them in a lurch makes me twitch. “And I don’t want to move Lav in the middle of a school year, but shehas friends here—and her birthday—she wants a party, so I’ll have to figure out that too.”
She smiles softly. “I appreciate that. Lav has the best birthday parties.”
“And I’ll look for a handyman replacement for me around here.”
“Cricket’s pretty good.”
“Not funny.”
“No, she is. I think her nervous system is finally coming out of hyperdrive. She’s had fewer accidents so far this week.”
I make my jaw relax.
Don’t want to talk about Cricket.
“The fermentation room?—”
“Don’t even try to blame that on Cricket.”
“No. Wasn’t her fault. I know. But—that could’ve been Lav.”
Mabel sighs. “Or Pip.”
I don’t tell her my last reason.
My in-laws.
Ava’s parents.
When they dropped their lawsuit last year, I formally notified them through my attorney that they were no longer allowed to be part of Lavender’s life.
But a friend in town told me they thought they’d seen my in-laws in town.
