Chapter 22

Just as Marie was about to press the call button in her worry, Joyce grabbed her hand. She looked down and saw Joyce's hopeful eyes. "Mom, can you help me?" Marie had a bad feeling about that. Joyce's next words confirmed her fears. "Can you get Neal to come see me? You used to treat him well, so he would listen to you." Marie was frustrated to hear that. She rejected her outright. "No, Joyce. Your relationship is over now. Just let the past be the past. He has a new life now. You should have one too. You didn't like him in the first place anyway. There are plenty of other fish in the sea. Why put yourself through this?" She tried to put as much earnestness in her words as possible, hoping that Joyce would take her advice and let go of the past. She'd done this once before—back when Joyce had been devastated by Corey, she had managed to convince her to move on to someone else. Marie believed that she could do the same this time too. All she needed was a bit of time. Eventually,