Page 11 of Choose You

He left when I was six. After that, my mom had a string of boyfriends that never stayed around for more than a month or two. But before he left, it always ended in more fighting. I swore when I had kids, they’d never see fights like that.

“Shh. It’s okay, sweetheart. There’s no reason to cry.” I rub my hand down her back and hold her tight.

She lifts her face and looks at me with sad, tear-filled eyes. Was every girl I cared about going to cry today? “Then why did that lady say she wouldn’t sell us the house? I don’t want to lose my room.”

“I’m sorry, kiddo. I wish you hadn’t heard that. She’s just upset right now. Give her time to calm down, and Daddy will fix this.” I kiss her on the nose and force a smile. I really hope I’m not lying to my girl, and Icanfix this. Jessica can be stubborn. If she decides not to sell me the house, there’s nothing I can do about it. But dammit, I’m going to try.

“Why is she upset?”

“You know how Uncle Jimmy just died?” I wait until she nods. “Well, unlike to us, he reallywasher uncle. So, she’s extra sad that he’s gone.”

“Oh.” Emmie looks down and fiddles with one of the buttons on my shirt. I can see the wheels turning in her mind as she processes what I said. She looks up at me, her tears dry, and scowls. The kind of scowl she gives when she decides she doesn’t like something that’s happening. “If she’s extra sad, then you shouldn’t have yelled at her like that, Daddy. Never yell at someone when they’re sad. It’s mean.”

Her words make me smile, and I pull her in for a kiss on the cheek. “You’re right. I’ll be sure to apologize for that.” I look over her shoulder and catch Momma standing with her arms crossed over her chest wearing an even bigger scowl than Emmie. I take in a deep breath and prepare myself for what’s about to come. “Now, head back over to the tire swing, and let me talk to Grandma for a second. I think she has something to say, too.”

“Okay.” Emmie dries her eyes and sniffs before she kisses my cheek. She wiggles free from my arms and runs off.

Once she’s back to swinging, I turn my gaze to Momma. “Well, let me have it.”

“I guess this means Jessica didn’t know you were living inherhouse.” Momma glares at me.

I rub my hands over my face to stifle the scream that desperately wants out. “Yep, that’s a safe assumption.”

“I thought you said she knew?”

“Jimmy told me he talked to her about it. What was I supposed to do? Call her myself?”

“Well, there’s a novel idea. I think maybe if you talked a long time ago, everything would be different now. When are you going to fix whatever went wrong between you two?”

“Momma.” I drop my head into my hand and rub the bridge of my nose. It’s bad enough that I had to go through this with Jessica. I didn’t want to do it with Momma, too. “It’s not that simple.”

“It never is. But nothing will ever get solved if you two don’t talk.”

I take my Stetson off my head and slap it against my leg infrustration. “I already followed her over here after she asked me to leave her alone. What more would you have me do?”

Momma drops her arms to her side, her hands balled into fists. Momma didn’t get mad often, but when she did, she struggled to contain it. “Keep following her until she listens.”

“She doesn’t want to talk to me,” I yell in frustration.

“Can you blame her? I wouldn’t want to talk to you with that attitude either.”

“That’s not fair. You don’t understand.”

“You’re right. I don’t. Because you never told me what happened between you two. All I’ve got to go on is what I see. And I see my son being too hard on a woman who’s in shock and in mourning. That girl has no one left, Matt. You of all people should understand what that kind of loneliness is like.”

She’s right, but I keep digging myself a deeper hole. “I’m sure she’s not completely alone. And she still has her brother.”

“Matthew Edward Langdon, you go after that woman right now and make this right. You two used to be inseparable. Your father and I were so certain you two would—” Momma stops and rubs her hands over her face. When she looks back in my direction, there are tears in her eyes. “She’s hurting. She may not know it yet, or even be willing to accept it, but you’re the only one who can make this right. Find a way and fix this.”

Without giving me a chance to respond, Momma walks back to the bench and sits down to watch Emmie swing. I turn my gaze to the path Jessica took into the forest. I know where she went. There’s only one place she ever went when she needed to think.

On a sigh and with my head hung low, I walk into the forest to find her.

I don’t haveto think about where to go to find Jessica. I’ve made this walk so many times, I can find my way to her spot with my eyes closed.

I was twelve the first time I’d stumbled onto her sitting on the big rock that looks out over the water. I had just come to live with theLangdons, and I wasn’t exactly adjusting well to the new environment. No one yelled. Momma and Dad were respectful to each other, and Leann and Joseph, who were nine at the time, looked out for each other like brothers and sisters should. It didn’t matter that Joseph was adopted. They treated him like blood. I didn’t see Adam a lot at first. He was still in Chicago at the time. But he seemed nice enough.

I didn’t know how to deal withnice. No one had ever been nice to me. If Dad had punched me in the gut or stuck his foot out to trip me, causing me to hit my head on the edge of the table, now that would have been familiar. I still have the scar on my forehead from where one of my mother’s boyfriends tripped me to prove it.

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