Chapter 14
“You got everything you need?” her father asked, tipping his hat back.
She nodded. “You don’t need to drive me, Dad.”
“I want to, long as you don’t mind the detour?”
She shook her head. Fisher said a neighbor had called about a downed gate. Since they were closest, they’d check it out, let Fisher know and hit the road.
“Don’t like the idea of you making the drive on your own. Awful lot of highway. I know you’re anxious to see your cousins, but you said Tandy and Click are coming home for New Year’s so they can bring you back.” He glanced at her. “You are coming back?”
She swallowed. “I am.”
“Promise?” His voice was soft, unsteady.
“I promise, Dad.” She nodded.
“Sure wish you were waiting till after the holidays to go, Renata. This is the first Christmas without you.”
She bit into her lower lip to hide the tremor.
“Last night was bad, I’m not going to lie,” he grumbled. “And I gave Lola a talking-to—I don’t care how bowed up her husband got. That woman needs to learn that she doesn’t have to say every thought that goes through her brain.”
She smiled. “She can’t help it.”
“She needs to try,” he barked, reaching across the seat to take her hand. “That Sheehan fella should thank his stars Ash stopped Fisher from throwing a punch.”
“He did?”
He nodded. “Good damn thing, too, or the fool would have ended up in the hospital—and your brother would probably be locked in a cell.”
“He was that upset?” She wasn’t the only one who had been humiliated last night. Her actions had reflected on her whole family.
“I haven’t seen him like that since...ever.” He shot her a look. “You okay?”
She nodded, his question making her eyes burn. Her gaze wandered out the window and over the winter landscape. A slight freeze covered the gray-brown grass. Was she okay? No. Not at all. She’d told Ash she cared about him—in a roundabout sort of tirade—but she’d said it. And he hadn’t come after her. The one time she’d wanted him to come after her and he’d listened.
But if he had come after her, then what? They would have ended up in bed together and her heart would be more shattered than ever. He didn’t love her. Period. The sooner she accepted that, the sooner she could let go and move on.
“You don’t look okay.” His hand squeezed hers.
“I will be.” She tried to smile.
His vibrant blue eyes, so like her own, narrowed. “It’s that boy? Ash? He do something wrong?”
She stared down at their hands. As close as they were, she rarely bared her soul to her father. “Dad—”
“Don’t you Dad me, Renata Jean. If your brothers and I need to—”
“Dad! No. Leave him alone. Please.” She cut him off. “He hasn’t done anything.”
“Then why are you crying?” he asked, pulling his handkerchief from his shirt pocket.
“I’m not crying.” She dabbed away the tears, sniffing fiercely.
“Come on now. You know I can’t stand by and watch my girl cry.” He caught her hand again.
“He didn’t do anything. He proposed, I said no. Because he doesn’t love me.” She sniffed, wiping frantically at the tears that were streaming down her face. “And there’s nothing anyone can do about that.”