Steve's mouth hung open as he glared at Maddie. He closed it only to shake his head and open it once more demanding. "What do you mean we shouldn't see each other anymore?"

"Just what it sounds like. We have no future and it's time for both of us to move on."

"Is this because I don't want to get married again? Is this an ultimatum? Because if it is, I'll marry you. Okay? Are you happy now?"

Maddie laughed. "No Steve. I don't want to marry you. I never have. We made good friends, but terrible lovers. I want to be free. I want my space, and I don't want to be with you. I'm sorry."

"Does that mean I should go? You didn't even feed me breakfast."

"I think it's best. If you're hungry stop at McDonald's." Her irritation was settling in her head. She was ready for him to leave.

He gathered his belongings and left, reminding her of a dog with its tail between its legs. Then she went to her room and stripped the sheets. Next, she walked into the bathroom to make sure he cleaned out his belongings. There was an old razor and shaving cream that she threw out.

She thought, wow, great first day! I just lost a two hundred pound weight off my shoulders. She truly had no regrets, but she would hear from Laura, her close friend, who had introduced her to Steve. Steve and Laura's husband were best friends. They had just been out with the other couple, seeing in the New Year.

Maddie had been on every diet through the years, so she knew what she needed to do. Knowing was the easy part. Doing the right thing was hard because it took far more than mind over matter. She wanted to try on her own before she reverted to counting points or any other plan.

First thing she needed to do was clean out all the food she no longer needed. Her pantry was full of junk that she never should have purchased - chips and other snacks. She had nuts, candy, and cookies left from Christmas. Her freezer had ice cream and frozen meals filled with fat and sodium. In the refrigerator were healthy fruits and vegetables that had gone bad, because she bought them with good intentions, but hadn't touched them. She threw all of it in a trash bag and took the bag outside.

The wind coming off the river was blinding. Maddie lived in a house that had been in the Evans family for generations. Her ancestor, who built the home, was a fisherman and the first settler on The Point. The Point, on the coast of southern Maine, had one of the most beautiful sandy beaches, but surrounded by marsh and tidal rivers on the land side.

Maddie's family owned the lobster pound and fish market. Her cousin, Lynn, ran it in the winter months when her parents were Florida, as snowbirds. Maddie lived in the large house alone until her parents returned each May for the summer months.

They had added onto and updated the house through the years. Most of the larger homes were on the beach, but the Evans house was on the river close to the causeway, the only way onto The Point, and around the bend from The Landing. Maddie knew she could go have coffee and a muffin at The Landing. She suspected that one visit and she would learn how most of the winter residents had spent their New Year's Eve. No muffin for her and she had coffee at home. Returning inside, she showered and headed out for fresh food to fill her empty fridge.

She missed a call from Laura. She would put off calling her back for a while. Her breakup would upset her friend. Still feeling no regrets, she turned on the shower to run until the water was hot. For the first time, she inspected herself and wondered how she had allowed it to happen. She couldn't even blame it on pregnancy, because she had never had a child. At her age, she had accepted she never would either. In her head she repeated, every day I eat right is one day closer to my clothes fitting more comfortably. Her waistbands kept rolling down below her belly.

The store was crowded for a holiday and she hoped she didn't see anyone she knew. As the children's librarian at the public library, she knew a lot of families in town. She bought only fresh produce and lean meats. She skipped the fish, because she could get fresher from her father's market. She planned to make sure she had no other option but to eat healthily.

Feeling good about herself, Maddie bundled up and took a long walk. The snow banks had narrowed the streets, but with no traffic, she could walk on the road. It was too cold to walk down on the sand, so she walked the stretch of Shore Drive that ran along the beach. As a few neighbors drove by, they exchanged a wave.

Christmas trees were discarded in front of some homes on top of the snowbanks. The town would come through with the chipper next week. Steve had always dragged hers out to the curb for her, after much complaining. Perhaps she could manage, or she could ask either Alex or Peter to help. She knew that her neighbors would not hesitate to lend her a hand.

When she returned home, she was cold but felt great. She enjoyed another cup of green tea while reading the chapters for her middle school book group which would meet the following afternoon. When her phone rang, she knew it was Laura without looking. She took a deep breath before she answered the phone.

"Hi, Laura."

"Maddie, did you really break up with Steve?"

"Yes. It's a new year and I'm making some changes in my life and ending a dead end relationship seemed a good place to start." She was confident and suddenly more sure about her decision than she was when she made it.

"But we all have so much fun together. You had fun last night, didn't you?" Laura sounded desperate.

"Of course, I had fun. I always have fun with you." The two couples had celebrated New Year's Eve at an overpriced restaurant in Portland. It was a prix fixe multi-course meal that was a bit too extravagant for her taste. Laura loved those fancy dinners and Tim loved anything that made his wife happy. They had a wonderful marriage based on devotion and love. If she and Steve had half of what they had, she wouldn't have sent him packing.

"But Steve is a great guy."

"He's a nice guy, but I never loved him. Truthfully he wasn't that great." Maddie was referring to more than one thing, but it was true of that too.

"Maddie! I don't want to know!"

"What? He wasn't that great of a boyfriend. He talked more than he ever listened. Not that I think it's in the cards for me, but he was not marriage material."

"Don't give up on marriage, you have a lot to offer the right guy." Laura encouraged her, as only a true friend would.

"Um, have you looked at me lately? I'm not about to turn any heads, but I'm alright alone. Maybe I should get a cat."

"What's next, a rocking chair?"

Maddie laughed. "I live in a two-hundred-year-old house. I already have more than one rocking chair."

"You're sure about Steve because he's upset."

"Upset sad or upset mad?"

"I'd say mad. He was using some words my kids didn't need to hear."

"That doesn't surprise me. I never liked some of his choice words. We all use them occasionally, but not as our favorite adjective."

"What are you going to do now?"

Maddie debated whether to tell her about her other resolution. She couldn't keep it a secret if she wanted to succeed. She took a deep breath. "I'm also serious about losing weight. I feel unhealthy and miserable. I gained most of my extra weight dating Steve. He just wasn't good for me."

"Honey, I think that's great. I support you. I just want you to be happy."

It relieved Maddie that Laura had conceded and Maddie assured her she was happy. She felt better about her decision to dump Steve. She should have done it long ago but had grown too passive. That was the old Maddie, the new one would stand up for herself. So she was single; she had a job she loved and plenty of friends. She had time to read and to binge watch shows if she felt like it. She would be happy and enjoy life alone even if it killed her.

Rory didn't know what to think or say when Jack suggested they sell the house. She hated that house. Sure it was big and nice inside, but she never liked it. Still, Mom had loved it. Her Mom said that it was her castle. The problem was the castle came with neighbors who were nosy snobs. They also could do the math, because they figured out that Mom was still a teenager when she had been born. They would always talk behind Mom's back but were nice to her face. After the accident, they cried as if Mom was their best friend. It made Rory angry, and she wanted to yell at them, but she didn't. She waited and yelled at poor grieving Jack, instead.

She was afraid that if they moved, they'd leave Mom behind. Jack told her he had just come up with the idea, so it was all right if they both took some time to decide. She could talk to her grief counselor about it.

When they reached the house, she went to her room, shutting the door behind her. She looked around at the room her mother had decorated for her. She was twelve when they moved there so some things seemed babyish now. Still, if they moved, she would lose that part of her mother. Trying to fight the tears welling in her eyes, she searched for a happy thought, but couldn't find one. Instead, she remembered how Mom had lovingly decorated Emma's room too, but she was just a baby and would never remember she once had a room with yellow walls and pretty curtains.

Rory hid in her room not really doing anything until Jack called her to dinner. Mimi's cooking had spoiled her all week, now she was back to Jack's which sucked. Seeing Emma eating happily, Rory wished she could be like her. She loved her sister, well technically half-sister, because Mom loved her and was so excited about being pregnant. Rory worried that Jack wouldn't love her when he had his own baby, but she had been wrong. If Jack stopped loving her, it would be because she was so mean to him. Perhaps for her New Year's resolution, she would try to be nicer to Jack. The problem was she was angry all the time and Jack was the only one that she could be angry at. How could I be angry at Mom when she wasn't here? It wasn't Mom's fault some drunk had hit her car.

It wasn't Jack's fault either. She'd heard Jack telling Mimi he felt responsible because he had an important meeting and wasn't with her.

Mimi had said, "Then you'd both be gone and Rory and Emma wouldn't have you either."

If Rory could have traded Mom for Jack, she would. She also knew if she told him, he'd understand. Did he wish he could trade her to have Mom back? Maybe, but even when she hated him, he loved her and that made her glad.

She hardly remembered when she met Jack. She was four when he and Mom started dating. She remembered he always treated her special especially when they took her on their dates. Sometimes they'd go out without her, and she'd be sad. She loved being a family until Jack's company started doing so well he bought this castle and they moved. Maybe they could move back and live near Mimi.

Rory didn't really respond when he suggested moving. It was impossible to know what that girl was thinking. When she was little, she laughed or cried. She hugged you or stomped her feet. Well, there was still stomping, and she added eye rolling, but she yelled more than conversed. She was hurting. In his sessions, he spent as much time discussing his grief as he did how to handle a grieving teenager. Lingering below the surface was always the fact she knew he wasn't her real father. He wasn't that worthless bastard who was content to take what he wanted without concern for the consequences. He often asked what he would have done at eighteen if he got some girl pregnant. The truth was, he hadn't found anyone to have sex with at eighteen. He had dated girls in groups both at home and at the beach in the summer, but never seriously. The only girl he liked at the beach chose his friend to date. Still, if he had gotten a girl pregnant, he would have done what was right.

Even though he wasn't Rory's father, he couldn't love her more. He fell in love with her at the same time he fell in love with Nicole. Neither love was exclusive of the other. Now that Nicole was gone, Rory was an important piece of her. When he was just out of school, he worked with a guy who kept talking about his son like any proud father. One day he showed Jack a picture of the little tyke in his arms. The child's skin was as dark as his father was pale. Even though they adopted the boy, he really loved that kid. Jack remembered that father and son and when he asked to adopt Rory, he made a promise to love her like his own. His parents had taken her into their hearts too.

He served pasta with jarred sauce, which was one of his specialties. Emma ate it up, using mostly her hands and making a mess. He wanted to engage Rory in conversation, but any opener he had would not be well received. School's tomorrow, but she hated school, what d'you do in your room? She'd answer none of your business. He always approached carefully like one would a wounded animal. "Emma missed you."

"Did she tell you that?"

"No, but she looked for you. She pointed to your things and said Rory."

"Don't you mean, Ore Yee?"

She almost cracked a smile.

As if knowing they were talking about her, Emma pointed to Rory. "Ore Yee."

"So you had fun with Mimi?" It was a safe subject because Mimi had lost as they had, but she was not the one Rory lived with every day.

"We had fun, except I went to see my old friend and she has changed. She only talked about clothes and boys and she sounded like the girls at my awful school. That really sucked." Jack chose not to comment on her word choice, he'd said a lot worse. Rory continued. "Mimi said that people change. She said that I've changed, but she told me no matter what she loves me."

"Me too. Kiddo, I just want you to be happier. I want to be happier. I think Mommy would want us to be happier together. The big question is how are we going to make that happen?"

"I don't know. Can we move back closer to Mimi?"

"Maybe, the problem is Mommy wanted you to go to a good school. That's why we moved here. The towns near Mimi don't have very good schools." Nicole was adamant about moving away from where she grew up. Jack worried it was to avoid the bastard sperm donor.

"But good schools are filled with snobs and cliques." She could be right. Their town was.

"Do you even want to sell this house?"

"Mom loved it, so shouldn't we keep it for her?"

Jack thought before he replied. "Your Mom knew you hated it here. She loved it because we were together with her. Now we're not. No one can take our memories from us. Will you forget about dancing in the empty dining room, if we move away?"

The dining room was still empty. Jack had promised they would go furniture shopping after Emma was born, but that never happened. Nothing happened as planned; he thought and fought back the familiar feeling of tears.

Rory must have noticed his face, because she stood up and put her arms around him. "Dad, it's okay to cry. I do."

"I know, sweetie. Crying we do well. It's the laughing that we need to figure out."

Rory let go of him, carried her plate to the sink and came back with a wet cloth and started cleaning her sister. His heart lurched because he loved them both so much and Nicole would be so proud of the big sister Rory had become.