Page 40 of Sticks and Stones
“I’m mad at him,” she said, pursing her lips. “But I really love him too, Mom.” She leaned against her mother’s shoulder. “I want him to be here. With us. Vista Falls wouldn’t be so bad if Dad were here too. We’re making new friends, so we don’t miss the old ones as much. But we only have one dad.”
Gianna’s heart pained when she thought about how much this separation had hurt all of them. “Believe me when I tell you that being away from you guys is as hard for him as it is for you and your sister.”
“Are you guys still in love?” Ramsey asked, looking at her out of the corner of her eye. “Do you still want to be together?”
“Yes.”
“Then what’s keeping you apart?”
“Your dad needs to figure some things out, like I said.”
“And you’ll be here waiting for him when he does?”
Gianna put her arm around Ramsey. “We’ll be here waiting for him when he does, baby. ’Cause that’s what families do.”
***
Gunnar pushed the button to connect the call when Ramsey’s cell phone number flashed across his screen. “Hey, what’s up?”
“Can you talk, Dad?”
Her voice sounded soft and uncertain, weakening his resolved. No way could he stay mad at her. “The reception’s a little sketchy here, so forgive me if I cut out on you.”
“I should be the one begging your forgiveness.”
He’d put a few hundred miles between him and his girls, and Ramsey’s spiteful words echoed in his ears for half of them. “No begging required. But I’m listening.”
“I’m sorry, Dad.” A long pause followed. “I shouldn’t have said those things.”
“Did you apologize to your mother?” he asked without letting her off the hook.
“Yeah, we’re good.”
He knew Gianna had been hurt, but he was just as certain she wouldn’t hold it against their daughter indefinitely. At the end of the day, Gianna was a mom, and her connection with her girls was the most important thing in the world to her.
“Glad to hear it.”
“So, can you forgive me?”
“Yes.” He hesitated, giving her a minute to collect her thoughts as he passed the fast food restaurant he’d intended to stop at. “But the way you talked to us… that’s not cool. You can get angry with us or disagree with the things we say or do, but you can’t disrespect us. That I won’t tolerate.”
“I hear you.”
“Do you? For real?”
“Yeah, Dad. It won’t happen again.”
“Good.” He reached for the bottled water in his cup holder as he approached a red light. “How’s your sister?”
“We talked. I think she’s going to call you later.”
“Okay.” He tipped the water bottle back as the driver of the next car gaped at him, obviously wondering if he was seeing things. Gunnar already missed Vista Falls, where the people didn’t seem to care that he was famous.
“And how’s your mom? Is she still upset?” He hated leaving Gianna to sort through her feelings alone, but he knew if he’d stayed any longer, leaving her would have been impossible.
“She’s okay, I think. She went up to her room for a while. She said she had a headache.”
Gunnar planned to call her when he checked into his hotel that night, to make sure she really was okay. “I need you to do me a favor. Don’t give your mom a hard time, okay? We’re going through something, trying to figure some things out, and it isn’t easy on her. The last thing she needs is you guys giving her grief.”
