Free Mending Fences by Sherryl Woods Page B

You’re a wife, a mother, an active volunteer in the school and yet somehow you’ve decided you don’t matter?”
    “Pretty much,” Marcie said, shoving the remaining three-quarters of the pie across the table. “Help yourself.”
    “I don’t think so, because obviously some ingredient in that pie has addled your brain.”
    “No, hear me out,” Marcie told her. “Ken’s completely consumed with work and he doesn’t even need me to entertain his clients anymore. Evan’s either playing football, practicing football or chasing girls. He manages to find sufficient time in there to keep his grades up, but the only things he needs me for are laundry and the occasional infusion of cash.”
    Emily nodded. “Okay, I do recognize those symptoms. Josh is almost as bad, though he does expect me to get breakfast on the table for him and to keep the refrigerator stocked with milk and the cupboard filled with bread and peanut butter. Under duress, he will actually hold a conversation with me that consists of more than monosyllables and grunts.”
    Marcie gestured with her fork. “See, I told you. You’re only marginally better off than I am. The big difference is that Dani still needs you and you have your job.”
    “Well, I’m sure Caitlyn still needs you. She’s fourteen, even younger than Dani.”
    “In Caitlyn’s case, she’s fourteen going on thirty. She’s convinced I know absolutely nothing of value. I suspect she talks to you more than she does to me.”
    Emily flushed.
    “See, I knew it!” Marcie said.
    “Well, Dani probably talks to you more than she does to me,” Emily countered. “That’s typical. It hardly means you’re obsolete.”
    “Well, what am I supposed to do with my time? It’s not as if they’re looking for room-mothers for the seniors, or even for the eighth-graders. I offered to chaperon a field trip the other day and Caitlyn pitched a fit. She said she would be totally humiliated if I did that.”
    “And you interpreted that to mean what?” Emily asked. “That she was rejecting you? Embarrassed by you?”
    “Both of those,” Marcie said.
    “She’s just struggling to find her independence,” Emily corrected. “It has nothing to do with you, so don’t take it personally. Trust me, at that age none of the kids want their parents to chaperon anything, which is why teachers end up doing it.”
    Marcie knew she was probably right. Emily had a lot more experience dealing with teenage angst than she did. That still didn’t give her a clue about what she was supposed to do with all this time she suddenly had on her hands.
    “Okay, I’ll concede that I’m probably overreacting,” she said finally. “But I honestly have no idea what to do to fill my days.”
    “Get a job,” Emily suggested.
    “Please,” Marcie scoffed. “Doing what?”
    “Anything you want to do. Get a real estate license. Take classes and get licensed as an interior designer. You’d be great at that. Open a catering business or a bakery. There are probably a thousand things you could do. You just have to choose something that excites you.”
    “Other than a few years working retail when we were first married and the two whole weeks I worked for Ken, I don’t exactly have a stellar résumé.”
    “Which is why opening something of your own would be ideal,” Emily said enthusiastically. “Ken’s business is on a solid footing now, isn’t it? You could afford to take a risk.”
    “I suppose,” Marcie said, but with little conviction. She’d never been much of a risk taker. She’d liked being a housewife and mom. It had been challenging and rewarding. Any other work sounded like drudgery.
    Still, Emily wasn’t letting up. “Talk to Ken,” she prodded. “See what he says.”
    “I know what he’ll say. He’ll tell me I already have a job running this house. The possibility that he might have to remember to take out the trash or call the plumber would horrify him.”
    “He’d want you to be