“So what now?” Damon asks.
“I don’t know. Easton and I have our plans, but as far as my parents go, I’m too much of a coward right now to call or message either of them. I’m just going to show up at the Hearst Media’s satellite office tomorrow and hope I’m expected by upper management. I know I’m being a coward, but I just need a little time to get my strength back.”
“I can’t believe Uncle Nate was engaged to Stella Crowne. Wow.”
“You and me both,” Damon says thoughtfully. “I can’t see them meshing.” Damon grins, “But it’s not like I can imagine you meshing with Easton, either.”
“Well, they did, and we sure as hell did,” I say, holding up my ring finger. “And it was perfect until we got pulled into the undertow.”
“But you and Easton are okay?” Damon prompts.
I nod, for the most part believing it to be true.
“You’re not going to tell him what Uncle Nate’s doing?” Holly asks.
“Not now. I think that will infuriate him to the point he comes here for another confrontation with Dad. I don’t want to risk it.”
“Do you think your parents are okay?” Holly asks as the idea of them still being at odds rips into current wounds.
Damon says, “They’ll be fine.”
Just as I say, “I don’t know.”
Damon drains his beer and pushes his plate out of the way, leaning forward, commanding my attention. “Listen to me. We’re here for you, and we’re not going anywhere. You can trust us, and you should’ve. Respect to your husband—and I get what he was saying—but this is us, and we’ve been around long before he fucking got here. So, from now on, we’re all going to do better, no matter how busy our lives get,” Damon turns pointedly to me. “Or who we decide to fucking marry in secret, which warrants a phone call at the very least.” He pulls the sleeve from the cuff of his jacket. “We’re all going to be better.”
I nod, and so does Holly.
“Good, that’s settled,” he pulls his wallet from his back pocket.
“Tonight’s on me.”
He rolls his eyes. “You don’t know if you even have a job.”
“And we both know you’re not taking a dime from your husband,” Holly fact checks right after. Which is the absolute truth.
My heart lights with hope as I look between them. “So, do you forgive me?”
“For lying to us for four months and eloping with the world’s hottest rock star?” Holly condemns before she and Damon look at each other, their stare off resulting in a shared grin. Ironically, while I’m being lectured on transparency, these two idiots are clearly in love and doing a shit job of hiding it. Pushing away my margarita, I deny myself another sip to keep from blurting it out as Damon turns back to me.
“We do, but if you ever fucking ice us out again when shit such as this is going down,” he warns as he tilts his head toward Holly. “I’m going to let her kick your ass.”
“I’ve been working out, too,” Holly adds as Damon grins over at her in adoration.
“I’m sorry,” I swallow over the lump in my throat, “I love you guys.”
“We love you,” Damon softly reassures.
“You too,” Holly reciprocates. “Now, tell me about Dallas again.”
“Holly,” Damon cuts through. “Once was plenty.”
“Not for me,” she props her hand under her chin, looking glorious in a black sheath dress, makeup flawless, and sporting a sleek, high ponytail. “I love it when a man has enough balls to lay himself on the line for a woman.”
Damon lifts his beer to our waitress as Holly steals a glance at him.
It’s clear by her expression she thinks he’s playing immune. My guess is he’s heard every word.
Three days later, my mother rides alongside me on her temperamental Haflinger, Daisy Buchanan. She named her after the heroine in The Great Gatsby, one of her favorite books, despite my father poking fun at her for her depressing preference for romance classics. Unsurprisingly, Wuthering Heights takes the number one spot. She trots next to me along the fence after having greeted me at the front door to ease my concern with a quick, “I sent your father for beers with Marcus. It’s just you and me tonight.”
She’d texted me to come home for a ride after another day at my new but temporary office. Despite wanting to avoid my father—something I never thought I’d do—I immediately accepted the invitation, hope lighting my chest. I’d even gone so far as to call Easton to hear Stella had called him once too. Though their conversation was short, it is a start we both celebrated with quiet smiles.
“Mom,” I speak up, “I’m so sorry I hurt you this way. My actions were selfish, but I wasn’t thinking…and I know I owe Dad his own apology, as well—if he’ll ever be receptive to it. But I want you to know, I do respect you immensely. I respect your marriage to Dad and what you’ve built together, now more than ever.”
She rides for a few seconds before turning to me. “I’m still ridiculously angry and disappointed with how you handled it all, and I will have to work hard to forgive you, but I’ll get there. Your father will come around eventually…but Natalie,” she shakes her head.
“I know, Mom. Trust me, I know.”
“He finally told me everything that happened in Sedona.”
“Is that why you texted?”
“Again, I’m still pissed at you to the point I might get hostile.” She gives me a stern side-eye, her curly dark hair whipping around her face. “But I love you too much to let you sit at home alone a day longer thinking the things you were.”
“Thank you, I’ve been,” I shake my head, refusing tears. “Are you two…” my question lingers in the air briefly.
“We’re still fighting, but for different reasons than you may think.” She turns to me, her voice unapologetic, “But just to be clear, it’s our fight, and you have no place in it.”
“Okay.”
She averts her gaze to the large line of oak trees that edge the back of our property. “We’ll be fine. Hell, we already are.” A loaded smile lifts her lips. “Sometimes fighting can be really good for a marriage.”
I can’t help my smile. “Really?”
“You’ll learn soon enough.” With that, she taps Daisy with her heels in command and shoots forward, and I laugh before prompting Percy to catch up.
We ride hard for a short while before trotting along the fence to cool our horses down.
“How are you liking it at Hearst?” I glance over at her, and she beats me to the punch in reply. “Yeah, I thought as much.”
“It’s not that.”
“I think we’ve had enough lies between us.”
I nod. “You know you shocked the shit out of me the other day. You’ve never been so brutally honest when we talked in the past—but I loved it.”
“Can’t say that I hated it either, just the way it came about. The good part is we get to share a little more in that way. For the most part, you’re all grown up, now.”
We share a smile. “In the spirit of full disclosure then, I wouldn’t say I hate it. But yes, I’d rather be at the paper.”
Seeming satisfied, she nods as I take in her profile, my perception of her different now while I study her with new eyes.
“You know, I made peace with it when you were just a tiny thing that the two of you would be closer than we would. It’s just the way it is.” She glances at me. “But I know you far better than you think I do, just by the way you are with him and from the conversations your father and I have.”