Free Love in a Small Town (Pine Harbour Book 1) by Zoe York Page B

couldn’t. A part of me hoped it would be temporary.” And moving home would have underlined all of Liv’s fears about Rafe prioritizing his family over her.
    “But it wasn’t. Doesn’t that tell you something about her character?”
    “Sure does. It tells me she’s got backbone and self-respect.”
    “You have no clue what it takes to make a marriage work for almost forty years. And if you think I don’t have a backbone—”
    What the hell? “I wasn’t talking about you, Ma.” Not exactly. Without a doubt, Anne Minelli was tough as nails. “But you seem to have this idea that the perfect woman for me—for Zander and Tom, too, probably—is an empty vessel who can take on all our wants and make them her own. That’s not real life.”
    “You’re a good man. And you deserve a good woman at your side, not one who’s going to walk away.”
    “She wasn’t happy.”
    “So? You think I’m always happy?”
    No. His parents fought like cats and dogs at times. But they didn’t seem to hate fighting the same way he and Liv had. “That’s different. You guys always make up. Our fights…each one sucked a little more life out of our marriage.”
    “Then she should have—”
    “What, Ma? What could she have possibly done?” He was yelling now but he didn’t care.
    Anne rolled her dough one last time and dropped the round, raw loaf in a baking pan. “She could have refused to let you go.”
    Something in her voice gave him pause and he sat back down. “What’s going on, Ma?”
    “When you were a baby, your father…” She wiped her hands and leaned back against the counter. “This goes no further than this room, you hear?” She pointed her finger sternly in his direction and he nodded, struck dumb and unable to respond with any words. “He left me. Life with a wife and two young boys wasn’t all the fun and games he thought it would be, and he wanted out.”
    Disgust at his father roiled in Rafe’s gut. “No.” He shook his head. “You wouldn’t take him back if he did that.”
    “Take him back? I dragged him back. He was done.” She frowned. “And that would have been the end of our love story if I’d let him go.”
    Memories from his childhood slammed into Rafe. His parents necking in the kitchen…the look of joy on his father’s face when Anne told him, in front of their three boys, that she was pregnant again…whispered plans for birthdays and Mother’s Days, year after year. “He loves you so much.”
    She nodded. “He does.”
    “And he left you?”
    “It was a moment of weakness, Rafe. And not one he’s proud of, which is why I’ve never told any of you about it.”
    He closed his eyes. “And you think that Liv and I…”
    “It’s not the same thing. You don’t have children. But neither of you fought for your marriage. So no, I can’t respect her. You…well, you’re just lucky you’re my son. Because I don’t respect you for letting her go, either.”
    “Even though you don’t like her?” He opened his eyes and shook his head in confusion.
    “I liked her just fine. She should’ve cooked more and not been so damn resistant to having babies, but she was your wife and she made you happy. But now she’s dead to me.”
    “Well, she’s not dead to me, so cut that out.”
    “I just want you to be happy. Staying hung up on your ex-wife impedes that.”
    “She’s my wife , Ma. The ex part is a legal technicality. There is no one else for me, don’t you get that?”
    A pin could have dropped and he would have heard it in the long pause before his mother started yelling at him. “No, you idiot! I don’t get that. Are you planning to be miserable for the rest of your life? If she’s it for you, then you’ve made a giant—no, colossal—error of judgement in signing damned divorce papers. You. Are. A. Fool.”
    He started laughing. “Wow, tell me how you really feel.”
    “It’s not funny. I don’t approve of how you two have carried on, but if she’s the