“He’s my dad. It hurts me when you say awful things about him, just like it hurts me when he says things about you. You’re my parents. Both of you. Still. You may have divorced each other, but you’re not divorced from me.”
“This isn’t about you, Victoria. This is about—”
“You know what, Mom? I’m sorry you’re unhappy. I’m sorry Dad’s unhappy. But I’m not letting either of you make me unhappy anymore.”
“Victoria Jean Burns!”
“When you call me, you can ask about me and you can tell me what’s going on with you, but if you mention Dad, I will hang up on you. And I’m going to tell him the same thing and I mean it. I’m sick of your anger and the petty comments and...all of this.”
“Of course I’m angry with your father. Do you know what he did? He—”
For the first time in her life, Tori hung up on a person. The fact it was her mother made her hands shake slightly, but she would do it again. And again and again until her parents got the message.
She was done giving their unhappiness power over her life.
Her parents were weak. It wasn’t strength that had held their marriage together for so long. It was fear of walking away and starting over. So they’d stewed in resentment for years, hiding it from everybody because neither of them had the guts to end their misery, until it boiled over in a steaming heap of anger and hate they flung at each other, not caring that it burned their daughter in the process.
It wasn’t love that turned her parents on each other. It was the lack of love and clinging to something that made them miserable and bitter because they were too afraid to go out and find what made them happy.
Tori wasn’t weak. She was stronger than her parents. She was strong enough to take a chance on love and, if it didn’t work out, she was strong enough to part ways before it got ugly.
She just needed to be strong enough to face the man she’d hurt figuring it out.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Max wasn’t sure how long he looked at the photo of Tori on his phone after Josh left, or how many times he had to tap it with his thumb to keep the screen from going dark.
He hadn’t known when he took the photo that she’d be the woman he’d fall in love with. He only knew he’d been drawn to her friendly, funny nature and wanted to get to know her better.
But I do know she was wrecked.
He couldn’t shake Josh’s words. No matter how much it had hurt to watch her walk out the door without looking back, he couldn’t stand the thought of her hurting, too.
Before he could talk himself out of it, he hit the button to call her. Then, drumming his fingers on the island counter, he waited. It rang three times and he was already wondering if he was about to get her voice mail because she was working or if she didn’t want to talk to him when he heard her voice. “Hello, Max.”
“Hi. I...” Now he had no idea what to say. Maybe he should have called Colin first. Or Josh. “I want to make sure you’re okay.”
“I’m okay. Not great. But I’m okay. Are you?”
“I miss you.” He realized belatedly that could sound like pressure. “But I’m okay, too.”
“I guess okay is going to replace nice in the ‘words we use to avoid saying what we really mean’ category, huh?”
He realized at some point he’d stood and was pacing, and forced himself to sit down. “So you’re not okay.”
“I’m trying to be. I’ve been doing some thinking—some soul-searching—and trying to get my head on straight.”
“I’m sorry I pushed, Tori. I knew you weren’t ready, but I zeroed in on what I wanted, which was you. And I’m very direct. Too direct, I guess.”
“You didn’t do anything wrong. I never want you to hide how you feel about anything from me. Even if it’s how you feel about me.” She was quiet for a few seconds. “I’m glad you called. I’ve been thinking about calling you, but I wasn’t sure if I should.”
“You’re still my friend, Tori. I didn’t stop suddenly caring about you.”
“You haven’t been coming into town. I hate that you’re isolating yourself again and it’s my fault.”
“As much as I like eating at the diner, that’s your place of business. It would be wrong of me to show up there while you’re working.”
“I appreciate that. But you’re still my friend, too. I guess I haven’t been a very good one, but I mean it.”
He wasn’t sure what to say to that. It was nice to know they could still be friends, but he didn’t think he was ready to walk into the diner and face her over a cup of coffee and half a turkey sandwich.
“I miss you, too, Max,” she said quietly.
Fresh pain hit him like a fist and he swallowed hard. He wanted to tell her he’d stop into the diner or invite her over to watch another Marvel movie, but he couldn’t get the words out.
“Maybe I’ll call you tomorrow,” he said, which was the best he could do.
“I hope so. I’ve missed the sound of your voice.”
“I’m going to go now, but I’ll talk to you soon.”