Page 142 of Secrets in the Deep

A knock sounded at the door, and Emily felt the energy in the kitchen shift. The guys went from relaxed to radiating with tense, alert energy. After the last few months they’d had, she didn’t blame them.

Joel moved to the door.

Emily could only see him, not the person on the other side. He sounded surprised when he said, “Hi.” Then looked straight at Emily, frowning. “It’s your mom.”

She straightened. Her mother was here? Yes, she said she’d visit Emily before leaving. She was still in Deep River because doctors had warned her not to fly for a couple of weeks. But Emily had assumed she’d call first. Arrange a time and a place. How had she even known how to find her?

She stood, and Ryan joined her. He’d been doing that a lot these last few weeks. Appearing by her side the second she tried to put weight on her leg.

Without a word, his arm curved around her waist, taking some of her weight as they crossed to the door.

She stopped in front of her mother. “Hi, Mom.”

Melanie Prior looked different today. A bit less makeup. Her blonde curls holding a tad less volume.

Her mother offered a small smile. “Hi, Emily. Ryan.”

“Want me to stay with you?” he whispered.

She shook her head. “I’ll be okay.”

He didn’t look like he wanted to leave. But as she stepped outside, he eased the door closed.

She lowered to the top step.

Her mom sat beside her. “How’s the leg?”

“It’s okay. It could have been a lot worse.” She studied her mother’s head, even though there was no sign of injury. “How are you?”

“I’m fine.”

She nodded slowly. “How did you know where I was, Mom?”

“You mentioned you were going to Polly’s house today, and in a town this size, it wasn’t hard to get an address.”

“You could have just asked me.”

“I was going to text, but I was at The Pancake Bar and mentioned it to Basil. He gave it to me.”

Her lips twitched. Not only because her mother had been at The Pancake Bar, a place she hadn’t stopped complaining about since arriving in town, but because she was on a first-name basis with the owner.

A crease formed between her mother’s brows as she looked out at the road. “You may not believe this but…I’m sorry.”

“For what?”

“A lot of things. I never really had the courage to go after the career I wanted. I told myself it was because I got pregnant with you, but that was a lie. I didn’t die after I had a baby. Yes, I had to work to support us, and time constraints made it harder. But mostly I stopped trying. I think I didn’t want to fail. But ifyoufailed, that felt…easier to accept. So I put everything I wanted onyourshoulders.” Her mother looked at her. “It was wrong. I’ve done a lot of wrong things as your mother, particularly where Ryan is concerned. And I’m sorry for that too.”

“Ididwant it when I was younger. You used to talk about acting like it was the closest thing to magic. You’d get this look on your face, like even just talking about it took you somewhere else. I used to watch you and think, whatever that is, I want it. Even when I was too young to understand it.” She glanced down at her interlaced fingers in her lap. “But then I grew up. I changed. And I started to want something different.”

“You wanted Ryan.”

“Mom—”

“That’s okay. It wasn’t just about Ryan himself. I know that now. It was about the life you wanted to build with him. You wanted love and a family and relationships that you never foundin the world of acting. I saw that. But I still told myself that if you chose him, it would be fleeting, and you’d regret giving up a potentially huge career for a man. I told myself everything I did was foryou.”

Emily swallowed, watching regret settle into her mother’s expression. “I believe you. Thank you for saying it out loud.”

Her mother nodded.