Nashville

Better now

"I don't give a fuck James. You can contact me through my lawyer. Stop calling." Sara said testily into her phone then hung up in relief. It was so good to be home.

"MOM?" Sara called as she walked through her parents house. Her daughters had run in ahead of her while she screamed at their father down the phone. She couldn't let them see that anymore. She was so disappointed with how her marriage had disintegrated around her. She'd just wanted to be the perfect wife and mother, just like Stevie was.

"Hey baby," Stevie said as Sara came into the kitchen and she instantly enfolded her in her arms. She felt so terrible for her daughter. She was going through a tough divorce and there were two precious little children involved that Stevie couldn't stand to see hurt. She couldn't stand to see Sara hurt either. She'd done everything she could to save her marriage but it was too far gone.

"How are you my sweet girl?" Stevie asked stroking through her gorgeous blonde hair and kissing her lovingly.

"Better now i'm here." Sara whispered taking in her mother's scent and feeling extremely comforted. Stevie never changed. She loved that. She'd been wearing the same perfume for Sara's entire life and she smelled like no one else.

"Was that him on the phone?" Stevie asked gently, holding onto her tight.

"Yeah. I'm not taking anymore of his calls. The whole reason i'm doing this is so the girls aren't exposed to us fighting all the time. It's not healthy." Sara sighed.

"I know baby, I know." Stevie rubbed her back. "You're such a wonderful Mom Sara, I'm so proud of sweetheart."

"Thank you Mommy." Sara whispered. She really hadn't felt like she was even a good Mother recently. She hated that her daughter's wouldn't grow up with two parents who loved them but she knew it would be worse for them to grow up with two parents who hated each other.

"Do you like your new house? I tried to find something that was you and not clutter it up too much. I know you hate all that stuff." Stevie didn't want to upset Sara too much. She knew it was hard for her to talk about.

"It's perfect Mom. Thank you for getting it ready for me so quickly, I don't know what i'd do without you." She gave Stevie a squeeze before releasing her as her carrots were boiling over.

"Hey Hol," Sara waved to her and Holly greeted her back.

"There's my favourite niece, don't tell the others." Sara whispered as Mia smiled and opened her arms to her aunty. She idolised Sara, and since she'd moved back to Nashville, Mia had spent a lot of time with her as Stevie had found her a house 4 doors down from Robin and Matt's.

"Is he being an asshole again?" Mia asked wrapping her arms around Sara's neck as she still sat on the kitchen counter and Sara rested her head on Mia's shoulder.

"Asshole is an understatement." Sara murmured. "Can i have a kiss?" She asked looking up at Mia sweetly and she placed a long kiss on Sara's lips. Sara was only 14 herself when Mia was born and it sometimes felt like she was just her much younger sister.

"Love you." Sara told her.

"Love you more." Mia held onto her and Stevie smiled serenely at them.

"Don't tell Daddy he called." Sara asked Stevie with a hint of pleading in her voice.

"I think we could all do without one of Daddy's rants today." Stevie winked at her.

To Lindsey's credit he'd absolutely hated Sara's soon to be ex-husband from the very beginning and now he just hated him even more. The first time Sara had brought him home to meet Stevie and Lindsey he'd taken one look at James and decided he was a pompous prick with something to hide. Lindsey'd been right on all accounts and it was his preference for prostitutes he'd hidden pretty well for the first few years. Sara had found out, because wives always do eventually and she'd forgiven him, tried to work through it, for the sake of their children, but once she knew it was never the same.