“I love the way I live my life and how I make my living. You accepted that about me. I wouldn’t work this hard if I didn’t love it and I know I’d miss it.”
“Would you miss me if I wasn’t here?”
“Yes.”
Gavin touched her cheek. “Can’t we start there and find a way to make us work?”
“I don’t see how. This is a lose-lose situation for both of us. I won’t go to Arizona. And if you don’t go, you’ll resent me for making you choose.”
“So what you’re telling me is if I’m willing to compromise for us to be together, that’s fine. But when I ask you to compromise, well, no way.”
“That’s an oversimplified statement,” she argued. “Because the move to Arizona wouldn’t be based on mutual compromise. The move would be because your daughter threatened you into a decision you didn’t want to make.”
Was that really how she saw the situation? Sierra throwing a fit and him just giving in?
Wasn’t that what was happening?
Rielle retreated. “I love you. I never thought a man like you would ever love me. We’ve had similar parenting styles with our only children. But I’m telling you…please don’t make my mistake. I didn’t see myself as anything but a parent to Rory until I met you. You gave me love and worth as a woman—as your woman. It was hard to tell my daughter, who, yes, had me at her beck and call even as an adult, that I deserved a life outside of being her mother. I’ve embraced it and she didn’t like the change but she’s accepted it. I didn’t have the guts to do that until you came into my life and changed it completely for the better. So don’t wait until Sierra is twenty-four to come to the same realization.”
Gavin was too stunned to say anything as she walked out and quietly closed the door.
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Rory knew the instant she’d talked to her mom yesterday that something was wrong. Like horribly wrong.
She assumed that f**king McKay bastard had done exactly what she feared—ripped her mom’s heart out and run over it with his goddamned Lexus. So she’d been shocked to hear the McKay male wasn’t causing the problem, but his precious spawn.
At first her stubborn mother stayed true to her decision to exclude Rory from issues in her relationship with Gavin. But she wasn’t deterred. She adopted her mother’s soothing style of extracting information and her mom finally broke down.
And Rory had broken down too, silently, on the other end of the phone because she grasped her mom’s dilemma. If the situations had been reversed and Rory had made those demands? Her mom would’ve sided with her—seen to her child’s needs above her own without question. Even right now when her mom was miserable, she wouldn’t fault Gavin if he chose his daughter over her. But hearing her mother cry…Rory wanted to hop in her truck and kick some serious McKay ass—starting with Sierra’s.
But she’d promised to cover her co-worker’s bar shift last night and she hadn’t left for Sundance until early this morning.
Upon arriving home, Rory parked her truck at her cabin and skulked through the trees, avoiding her mom as she made a beeline for the house.
Gavin wasn’t around. Good. That might’ve been awkward, him asking what she was doing there and her answering…I’m here to bust Sierra’s balls.
Rory knocked on Sierra’s door, but didn’t allow the girl a chance to deny her entrance so she barged right in.
Sierra sat on her bed, earbuds jammed in her ears and the music cranked so loud Rory heard it by the door. Sierra’s head was back, her eyes closed. A notebook sat on her lap with words scrawled across the page.
Rory recognized heartbreak when she saw it. Grabbing the footboard, she jostled the bed.
Sierra’s eyes flew open. She scrambled out of her slouch, wiped her eyes and pulled out her earbuds. “Rory? What are you doing here?”
“Came to see my mom. She’s busy making hay while the sun shines, so I thought I’d grab you and we’d go get ice cream or French fries or something equally junky.”
“I’m not really hungry.”
“I am. Let’s go. You can keep me company while I eat.”
“Rory. I’m not dressed, I’m in a shitty mood and I just wanna be left alone.”
“Tough shit and toughen up, little sister.” She jostled the bed frame again. “Move it.”
Sierra tossed her iPod aside. “What is your problem?”
“You are, Little Miss Mopey Face. You’re hunched up in your bed, acting like your pet hamster died and I’m PMS-ing for chocolate and grease. I’ve never ridden in your fancy-ass new ride, and since I know how much you love to drive, I’m telling you to get up and chauffer me around, be-yotch.”
“You are such a pain in the ass.”
“Yeah? What’s your point?”
“Fine. Give me a f**king minute.”
Rory chattered about bullshit on the way to town. College and bartending and guys that’d been sniffing around. Sierra was occupied with driving so she was only half-listening anyway and didn’t suspect a thing.
At Dairy Queen, Rory went inside to order since Sierra refused to go through the drive-thru. An extra-large fry and two gigantic mocha Moo-lattes later, Rory directed Sierra to drive to Flat Top. If she thought it weird two girls were headed to the local make-out spot, she didn’t mention it.
They sat on the bench overlooking the deep, red-rock rimmed canyon, with prairie on one side and Devil’s Tower on the other. Once they demolished the order of fries—so much for Sierra not being hungry—Rory broached the subject.
“So. I guess you won’t be round much longer, huh?”
Sierra glanced at her sharply and then suspiciously. “Did your mom put you up to this?”
“Put me up to what? Gorging ourselves on junk food? My mom is the prophet of healthy eating, remember?”
“No, did she ask you to take me aside and talk me out of it?”
“Talk you out of what? Holding a knife to your dad’s throat and insisting he do what you want?”
“My dad said something to you,” Sierra accused.
“I’ll admit to shock when I called my mom yesterday and she was sobbing so hard I couldn’t understand her.”
All the blood drained from Sierra’s face. “What? Rielle was crying?”
“No, sobbing. Like her heart was breaking and she couldn’t get enough air. There’s a difference between sobbing and merely crying. I’m sure you know that.”