“It’s no problem at all. This farm and this family, this is my life. And I’m thrilled—beyond thrilled—that my kids have a little cousin. I hope there are more to come.”
Neither Daisy and I say anything to that.
Ronnie smiles sheepishly. “Sorry. Getting ahead of myself, I guess.”
I put a hand on Daisy’s arm and point her towards the door. Outside, we yell goodbye to Vivi, but she’s too busy with the princesses to do more than wave back at us.
We head home and the silence between us is thick.
“You’re mad,” I say.
“Nope.” She’s not even looking at me. In fact, she’s got her whole body angled towards the passenger window.
“You are, I can tell. Which part of this day pissed you off?”
“I’m not mad, Vic.” She says my name, but she’s still not looking at me. “It’s just a very big change.” More silence. Then, finally, she turns her head in my direction. “Everything is changing.”
“Yeah, but it’s not a bad thing, right?”
“I don’t know that yet.”
“What do you mean?”
“You, Vic. Me.” She sighs and turns away again.
“You, me… what?”
“I don’t know you. You don’t know me. You have no idea who Vivian is.”
“That’s not my fault.”
“I’m not saying it is. I’m simply saying this is a huge change. You have taken over our lives.”
“That’s not true.”
“Really? Last week I had my own babysitter—”
“If you don’t want Veronica to babysit, just tell her no.”
“That’s not it. And don’t interrupt me when I’m talking. It’s rude.”
I roll my hand at her. “Continue, then.”
“My point is, last week I made all the decisions. It has taken me every moment of these past seven years to sort things out. And I’ve been thrown some curve balls recently, and I didn’t expect to be living in a shitty family-housing apartment with my six-year-old daughter while I waitressed and went back to school with a bunch of people who still qualify as teenagers. But whatever. It is what it is. And I was still in control. But now—”
“Oh, I get it.”
“Do you?”
“I’m stepping on your toes.”
“See, Vic, it’s not that simple. I mean, of course it’s that simple in your eyes because you haven’t been the one dealing with parenthood for seven years. And you maybe even think of yourself as some kind of hero, right? You’re gonna save us from… whatever.”
“Daisy, I really think you’re reading too much into this.”
“No. You’re reading too little. Listen, I get that you have rights. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you. I was young, you are much older than me, it was a one-night thing and we didn’t know each other. So that’s my bad. And it’s a big one, I understand, and you have every right to be mad at me. But flipping my world upside down? It’s not fair. Even if everything you bring to the table makes our lives better, it’s still not fair.”
I don’t say anything back at first. I just try to understand where she’s coming from, but it doesn’t make sense to me. Finally, I say, “So what do you want me to do?”
Daisy shrugs. “There’s nothing you can do. It’s done.”
“So why are you blaming me?”
“Because you’re the only one I can blame.”
I chuckle a little. “Well, at least you’re honest.”
She nods. Looks out her window. “And at least you’re not defensive.”
“I kinda am. I’m just trying to help.”
“I know.”
“What time do you get off?”
“Around eight, I guess.”
“I have clients tonight. But come on over when you’re done and we can go get Vivi.”
She scoffs. She even looks at me. “Go get Vivi? Are you fucking kidding?”
“What do you mean?”
“She’s not coming home tonight, Vic. She’s in heaven up there at your sister’s farm. Your nieces are living her dream life. There is no possible way that she doesn’t stay the night. Hell, there is almost no possible way she doesn’t stay the fucking week. We’re not picking her up tonight. I’m going home after work, and I’m going home alone.”
This is when her deal finally sinks in.
She’s afraid she’s going to lose her girl. And she can’t even complain about it, because there’s nothing to complain about except her own sad heart.
Vivian was right yesterday. She’s not mad, she’s sad.
“Yeah,” I finally answer back. “That’s probably true. Hell, if I was a kid, I’d want to live at Ronnie’s house too.”
“No-brainer.” Finally, she smiles.
“But that’s what your house probably looked like when you were a kid, right?”
She scoffs again. “Um. No. Your sister lives in the Chip and Joanna Gaines version of a farm. I lived on a real farm. Our house was not trash, but it wasn’t high-end shabby chic.”
“That’s all Spencer,” I say. “He’s the rich fuck, not us. You’ve seen my house. It’s a wreck. And when I was a kid, it was much, much worse. Spencer and Ronnie built something good. Yeah, he always had money. He grew up in the rich side of Denver. But what they have now, they built that together. It took them fifteen years to get it looking that perfect. So, you know, you’re only seeing the endgame.”