Page 102 of An Adventure For Aster

“Patty,” her father said. “Don’t pressure Raine. She’ll tell us what she wants.”

“It’s fine, Dad,” she said. “It’s not like you didn’t go running to Brooks and River wanting to round up the cavalry and take Colton down.”

Her mother let out a snort, her father echoed it. “It wouldn’t take much to bring him down. I could do it with age on my side and one hand tied behind my back. He’s a wuss and always has been.”

Raine giggled over that. “I’m not going to defend him because I agree. And compared to Aster, yes. Flick him away with my fingertip.”

“That’s the best attitude to have,” her mother said. “Things are good with you and Aster now that your father opened his mouth after I told him not to?”

“I figured you wouldn’t have told him to begin with,” she said, lifting her eyebrow.

“It slipped,” her mother said. “I regret that.”

“I don’t,” her father said. “He broke my little girl’s heart and I’m not going to tolerate that happening again. Maybe Brooks and I wanted to see how Aster would react to the news.”

She ground her teeth. “This was all a test?”

“Yeah,” her mother said, putting her hands on his hips. “Mike, what did you do?”

“Nothing,” her father said. “I told Brooks and River.”

“Knowing that Brooks would get the ball in motion,” she said. “You guys all suck.”

“They may suck,” her mother said, “but you did admit that you almost needed it. That you finally came to terms on your own.”

She sighed. “Yes. I mean I came to terms on it years ago. You know that. Everyone does.”

“But it took you a long time,” her mother said. “You had hoped he’d come back for a full year. I think you even marked your calendar. Don’t think I didn’t notice from when you broke up until you started to date again.”

No one was supposed to realize that and she wasn’t surprised her mother had.

“I was in mourning for a period of time,” she argued. “I spent over six years of my life with him. The plans and dreams I had were gone.”

“He was a dream crusher,” her mother said. “We get it. But it was time for you to build those dreams again.”

“I did and I have. But I’ve been more selective over the years. Maybe that was my problem and why I was single for so long.”

“Not a problem if you’re waiting for the right person and not someone to kill the time. Look at your brothers. They were your age, or older in Brooks’s case. River a bit older than you too. No one says love has to happen when you're young,” her mother said.

“It did for you two,” she said.

Patty brought the pot of goulash to the table and she grabbed the bowls to put them out with the silverware.

“Times were different for us,” her mother said. “Sometimes a young love is there and strong and you build on it. You need a common thread and we had one. But we struggled because we were so young.”

Raine looked at her father to see if he’d argue. “Your mother is right. I love her as much today as I did back in high school, but we rushed to get married and start a family. We learned as we went. We tried to teach you kids our mistakes.”

She didn’t want to argue there were no mistakes.

“Everyone makes mistakes in life.”

“They do,” her mother said. “Come sit and eat, Mike.”

“We didn’t want our kids to struggle like we did,” her father said, pulling a chair out and sitting at the same table as when she was a toddler.

“Everyone struggles too,” she said. “It doesn’t have to be financially, it could be emotionally. I feel that maybe money was the struggle, but you two worked it out. You stayed strong and you gave us so much more in exchange. So much more we could build on and grow. Even Brooks finally figured it out.”

Her father nodded and filled his plate when they were all seated. Her mother’s eyes got a little dewy.

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