Jenny walked over and slipped an arm around her friend’s shoulder. “I know you Angie, you’ll do the right thing.” She gave her a squeeze. “Or at the very least, you’ll do the best wrong thing.” They both laughed.
“I left my new cell number for both of them, for Braxton with Alicia, his ex-girlfriend. And for Bryan, I left the number with Mike, his best friend. They’ll call when they’re ready.”
“There’s always social media.”
“That’s just it. I can’t be the one to reach out. I have to wait for them to make the first move, and it has to be after Brice has cooled down. If I want a relationship with the boys, I’ve got to do it his way. As usual, Brice holds all the cards.”
“I should let you know I invited Ginger and Kari to meet us later, they’re both on the island right now for family vacations. I think Kari said they would be staying for only a couple of weeks this year. Have you thought about talking to Kari?”
“I want to talk to all my besties,” Angela said.
“I don’t mean best friend Kari, I mean Clinical Psychologist Professor Kari.”
“Oh. Talk to her in a professional capacity?” Angela rolled her eyes. “She’s here to get away from work.”
“Angie, she loves you, we all do.” Jen took a breath. “So, where was I? Oh yes, Mimi, Missy, and Kara are vacationing as well, but you know how busy those three always are. They’ve got a lot on their plates. I would have invited Donna and Gayla to drive out, but Gayla is at a landscaping conference and Donna is on vacation in Maui with her new foster daughter. Still, they only live a few hours away, so when you need them, you can reach out and they’ll be here for you.”
Jenny was the take charge one of the group. Angela was grateful, she could never have spearheaded even a casual get-together right now. Listening to Jen, it sounded like her friends wouldn’t have much time for her. Well, what did she expect? “But you’ll be back in a few weeks from your mom’s right?”
“Actually, no. My company is sending me to Korea. I’ll leave from Mom’s.”
“Oh.” Angela felt a tinge of panic, she had thought that being nearby would mean she and her Wishing Beach vacation friends could meet for lunch or come over and hang out. But, of course, that was entirely unrealistic. People were busy. They had lives. Unlike her. A new heaviness settled in the pit of her stomach.
“We’ll be here tonight,” Jenny said, as if she could hear Angela’s thoughts. “At least, most of us.” Jen pointed at her. “You need a night with the girls. I’ve already texted them, so it’s too late to back out. Speaking of texting, do you remember the text you sent us all when you left Brice? It was something about a doormat. Care to explain?”
The text had simply read,
HE THREW AWAY MY DOORMAT. I’M LEAVING HIM.
Recalling those fateful words brought a sudden flood of memories.
“Earth to Angie. I need to hear about this doormat.” Jen snapped her fingers. She took another drink of her tea and made a face. “This sun is melting my drink. I’ll bring out extra ice.”
Jenny helped herself in the kitchen while Angela let the early sun work its magic. Shards of light slipped through the cracks around her shades, piercing her eyes and reminding her she wasn’t in proverbial Kansas anymore.
Jen sat back down by the pool and took a few moments to freshen both drinks. Water ran in streams over the waterfall at the edge of the raised hot tub and into the glistening blue pool. “Now, the doormat story. We were all so shocked, and relieved that you were walking out that no one took the time to ask about that little detail. We all wanted to make sure you were okay.”
The first was followed by more texts back and forth with her friends.
YES, I’M OKAY. NO, HE DIDN’T GET PHYSICAL. YES, IT IS HIGH TIME.
Right after those texts, Brice had shut off her cell, and then thrown it against the antique China hutch that had been in his family for generations. Both the phone and the beveled glass door had been casualties of his wrath.
Angela was tired of reliving that moment. She’d always known he’d been capable of violence. The incidences had been spiraling but that day he’d lost control. She’d feared what he might do next. “The doormat was important to me because it had been the last gift from my grandmother before she died.
“My gram always said the door of a place sets the tone for the entire home. A doormat is a foundation that either welcomes or pushes away. A doormat has value beyond the credit it’s given. A doormat is the first place where you pause and sigh and know you’re home. It’s the first step into your sanctuary. It’s the gatekeeper.”
Jen’s eyes narrowed. “So when she gave you this particular doormat, it was special for a lot of reasons?”
Angela giggled. “Yes. I know it sounds philosophical and maybe even hokey, but I loved that doormat. It was the last gift I ever received from my grandmother.”
“And Brice threw it away?”
She nodded. “Yes. He knew it was important to me. But his feet were muddy from the golf course. He’d gotten drenched on the ninth hole and came home and rubbed his feet all over it, forgot, stepped outside in his socks a half an hour later and got mud all over those. He proceeded to take the doormat to the trashcan by the road, and the garbage service picked it up before I knew what had happened.”
“It was the very last straw, wasn’t it?”
Angela nodded. “I grieved over a doormat. How crazy is that? And I knew it was over for Brice and me. I tried and tried to be the best wife and mother I knew how, but the more I did the more he took advantage. Finally, in his mind, I was nothing more than a—”
“Doormat,” Jen finished for her.
“Mm hmm. And not the kind of doormat my gran talked about. To Brice, I was just a place to wipe his muddy feet.”
“He’s such a jerk.” Jen scowled. “You did the right thing, Angie. You’re not second guessing yourself, are you?”
“Only for the boys’ sake.”
Jen nodded. “Let’s run to the store and grab some steaks. This isn’t a wake. It’s a celebration.”
Angela sighed inwardly. Was there any way out of this party? No. She knew better. She wanted to see her friends, catch up, and maybe even laugh for a little while. Just not yet. At this point, it didn’t really matter. Jen had spoken.
Angela and her friends had steaks and prawns on the grill for dinner. Not surprisingly, Jen had been right. She’d needed a night with the girls.
Ginger made drinks in the kitchen while the others watched her. “Has anyone talked to Mimi?”
Jen scrounged around in her purse and produced her cell. “I’m calling her and telling her to meet us here.”
Angela sighed. “Is there no end to your energy, Jen? At some point we have to sleep.”
Jen stood. “We can sleep when we’re dead. How often do we get the chance to all hang out together?”
Ginger handed a drink to Jen. “About that. How long are you in town?” Jen had a townhouse on the southeast corner of the island. But traveling with work kept her away most of the time. Couple that with caring for her aging mother in New Orleans, and Jen was rarely on the island.