Page 15 of A New Chapter in Rosewood Beach (Rosewood Beach #7)

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Vivian sat down on the couch at her daughter Hazel’s house, feeling full and comfortable. Hazel had prepared a chicken pot pie for dinner, and it had been one of the best meals Vivian had eaten in a long time.

“I love cooking,” Vivian said with a chuckle, “but I think food always tastes better if you didn’t have to prepare it yourself. You really did an excellent job with that pie, honey.”

“Aww, thanks, Mom.” Hazel sat down next to her mother and kissed her cheek. “Samantha made the pie crust. She loves doing it and it’s such a big help to me.”

“You did?” Vivian turned to her granddaughter in surprise. “That was an excellent crust, Sam.”

Samantha, who was in the middle of doing some kind of dance in the middle of the living room, smiled and shrugged. “I like doing it. It’s easy.”

Vivian laughed. “Making a good pie crust is definitely not easy. Your mom did a great job of teaching you.”

“Well, I had a great teacher myself.” Hazel winked. “And Samantha started helping me bake when she was like, three, so she’s got years of experience.”

All three of them chuckled, even Samantha, and then a timer went off in the kitchen.

“Speaking of baking, I’d better go check on those cookies,” Hazel said, standing up and hurrying back into the kitchen.

Vivian smiled at her as she went. Hazel was wearing a soft pink blouse and beautiful gold earrings.

Just before starting to date Jacob, Hazel had spent a lot of time investing in herself and learning to love and care for herself better.

Dressing up a little bit more had been a result of that, and Vivian knew that Hazel’s outward appearance showed how much more she valued herself.

“Are you excited about school starting again?” Vivian asked Samantha as her granddaughter flopped down onto the couch beside her.

“Yes.” Samantha brightened. “My friends and I always eat lunch together and I heard that the teacher I’m going to have is really nice and does fun field trips. And!” She gasped and turned to her grandmother eagerly. “I have to show you my cheers! I’m trying out for cheerleading squad soon.”

“Cheerleading squad?” Vivian echoed supportively. “That sounds like a lot of fun.”

Samantha hopped up off the couch, and Vivian soon realized that the “dancing” that Samantha had been doing a few moments ago was actually choreography for the cheers she was practicing.

Vivian grinned delightedly as Samantha called out cheers for her school, posing confidently throughout her exuberant choreography. Once Samantha was done, Vivian applauded enthusiastically.

“Just amazing,” she said warmly as Samantha dove back onto the couch, grinning and panting.

“That’s what we have to do for the tryouts,” Samantha said. “We got a video that we had to watch to learn it. I had the whole thing memorized in a couple of hours.” She looked proud of herself, and Vivian felt proud of her as well.

“Amazing, Sam.” She kissed her granddaughter on the head. “I know you’re going to knock these tryouts out of the park.”

“I hope so.” Samantha’s enthusiasm faded a little bit and she frowned slightly.

“Most of the girls on the team have been cheering for a couple of years already, and I’m worried that I’m a little late to the game, you know?

Like what if they don’t pick me because there are already too many girls who really know what they’re doing? ”

Vivian shook her head. “Don’t you worry about that. There must be room on the team for more people, otherwise why would they have tryouts?”

“Mm, that’s a good point.” Samantha brightened.

“Besides, it’s never too late when it comes to chasing after something you’ve always dreamed of doing.” She hugged her granddaughter tightly. “I’m proud of you for doing this, and I bet it’s all going to work out beautifully. You did those cheers very well.”

“Thanks, Grandma! I’m really excited about—” Samantha stopped talking as the phone began to ring. “Oh, let me get that. I think it’s Willow calling me about the tryouts.”

Samantha scampered over to the phone, and when she said, “Hi, Willow!” eagerly, Vivian knew that her granddaughter’s guess had been correct.

Vivian settled back against the couch cushions comfortably while Samantha scampered out of the room, chatting with Willow about what she was going to wear to the cheerleading tryouts.

“The cookies are ready!” Hazel sang out, waltzing into the room holding a steaming tray of tea and cinnamon chip cookies. “Oh, and my daughter is missing. That’s okay. That’ll give us a moment to chat more easily.”

She set the tray down on the coffee table with a smile and sat down next to her mother.

“Sam is talking to Willow about what she’s going to wear to the tryouts,” Vivian said. “Either Willow is asking for advice or giving it, I’m not sure.”

“Oh, they’re so supportive of each other, it’s probably both.” Hazel smiled. She picked up the teapot and poured steaming golden tea into one of the teacups on the tray. “Cream or sugar?”

“Both please.” Vivian inhaled deeply of the sweet, spicy aroma of the tea. “What type of tea is that?”

“Cinnamon tea.” Hazel crinkled up her nose thoughtfully. “It might be a bit much with the cookies, but I find it to be a wonderful pairing, especially if you add cream to the tea.”

Vivian accepted the cup that Hazel had made her gratefully and soon agreed with her daughter that the soothing taste of the tea went excellently with the soft, gooey cookies.

“It’s wonderful to see Samantha trying out for something she wants to do,” Vivian said as she set her teacup back down on one of Hazel’s whimsical clay coasters. “I can tell how much being a cheerleader means to her, and I hope it all works out beautifully for her.”

“I do too.” Hazel smiled. “I want to make sure I’m supportive of whatever it is she wants to do.

I remember how supportive you and Dad always were of what we kids wanted to do.

You were always encouraging us to follow our hearts and do the things that we found interesting.

And it seemed so possible to us, since you and Dad were living your dream of owning a restaurant together. ”

Vivian’s heart soared when she heard Hazel’s words.

She was glad that Hazel had felt supported by her and Frank, and that her other children had as well.

She remembered sitting down with Frank one night when she was pregnant with Julia to talk about how they wanted to raise their children.

The first thing they had both agreed on was that they wanted their children to feel as though pursuing their dreams was absolutely an option for them.

“In fact,” Hazel continued, “Dean probably wouldn’t be a mechanic if you hadn’t agreed to send him to that summer school for young auto mechanics.

Dad didn’t know anything about fixing cars, so it was just kind of a half-formed dream in Dean’s head at the time.

He knew he loved puzzles and he knew he loved cars.

And instead of saying, ‘No, Dean, you need to be a doctor or a lawyer, you’re too smart to be a mechanic,’ you and Dad listened to him and sent him there. And it changed his life.”

“Mechanics need to be smart too.” Vivian’s eyes danced.

“Keeping everyone’s cars running—and keeping the people in those cars safe—is an extremely important job.

I remember how much Dean talked about cars when he came home from that camp.

” She laughed, delighted by the memory. “He was always sketching me examples of what he’d learned and explaining all these details to me and your father. ”

“Us too.” Hazel shook her head, chuckling. “I found it boring beyond belief, but I loved the way he was so excited. He really retained that information so well.”

“He did. He’s an excellent mechanic. I’m so proud of him for opening up his own shop, and I know your father was too.”

“Speaking of the shop, did you hear that Dean hired a new guy there? Somebody named Jeff. I guess it was Noelle’s idea.”

“I did hear that! Sounds like a wonderful plan to me, as long as this new mechanic knows what he’s doing. Did you hear how it’s going so far?”

“I did. Dean said the guy is really friendly and absolutely knows what he’s doing. I guess Dean was really worried that no one would apply who had any kind of a decent attitude, but Jeff has been knocking it out of the park.”

“Oh, I’m so glad to hear that. Dean should be able to rest so much more now that he has extra help at the shop.”

Hazel nodded. “He said he’s feeling much better already. More energy and less achy. I’m so excited for him.”

For a few moments, Vivian and Hazel sat quietly together enjoying their tea and cookies. Then Hazel stood up eagerly and hurried over to one of her bookshelves. From it she took a thick photo album, which she carried back to the couch.

“I wanted to look at this with you. This one has all of our sports pictures in it,” she said eagerly as she opened it. “Do you remember making this with me? I wanted all of our photo albums to have themes.”

“How could I forget?” Vivian chuckled. “It was such a cute idea, and I loved rearranging all of our pictures with you. We have the birthdays album, and the Christmas album, and four vacation albums, and one for all the days we spent at the pub together.” Vivian got misty eyed just thinking about all of the happy memories she’d shared with her children and Frank.

Hazel began to turn the pages of the photo album, and she and Vivian were soon laughing over pictures of the Owens children when they were small.

“Oh gosh, look at my teeth!” Hazel crowed, referencing a gappy smile she’d had after she lost both her front baby teeth. “I am clearly unashamed though. Look at that huge grin.”

“You looked darling.” Vivian peered down at the picture adoringly. “And over here! All of Dean’s freckles.”

“I’m going to text Julia this picture of her wearing pigtails. I can’t even imagine her wearing pigtails now.” Hazel chuckled as she took out her phone and snapped a photograph. “I’ll tell her that she should start wearing her hair like this again.”

They both laughed again, and Hazel turned the page.

“Look! Me playing tennis.” Hazel grinned at the images. “I really hated it at first, but then I loved it. I’d picked it because everyone else was doing a sport and I wanted to do something too.”

“Tennis! I was so excited when you picked that. I’m glad that one of you kids got to try tennis. It was something that I always wanted to do but I never got the chance.”

“Aww, you should have done tennis if you wanted to, Mom.” Hazel put a hand on her mother’s arm. “You’ve given us so much over the years, I wish you’d been able to do more for yourself too.”

Vivian smiled and was about to protest that she’d gotten a great deal of joy out of caring for her children, when she was struck with a thought. She remembered the conversation that she’d had with Faith about trying out new things that made her happy.

What’s to stop me from trying tennis now? Vivian thought eagerly. I’m still fit, and I bet I’ll be in even better physical condition if I start getting a lot of exercise.

“Why not now?” Vivian blurted eagerly. “Maybe I can start playing tennis now.”

Hazel’s face lit up. “You should, Mom!”

“Will you do it with me? After all, you know what you’re doing since you’ve played it before.”

“Oh gosh, me? I mean… that was so many years ago! It was fun, but I can’t say I really remember any of it. Or, I don’t think my body will really remember how to do it well.”

“You never know. It might be just like riding a bike.” Vivian shrugged brightly, optimism written all over her face.

“Okay.” Hazel laughed. “I’m down for an adventure with you anytime, Mom.”

At that moment, Samantha burst back into the room. “I’m so excited!” she exclaimed.

“About what, honey?” Hazel asked as Samantha flopped down onto the couch between Hazel and Vivian and started to help herself to a cookie.

“Everything,” Samantha replied, and Vivian and Hazel laughed.

Vivian had to admit to herself that she was starting to feel pretty excited about everything too.