Page 92 of The Jinglebell War
“We’re also going to stop meddling in your life,” Mom says. “We went too far bringing Avery to the house, especially with Pink there—”
“Her name’s Blue,” I say between gritted teeth. “You know that.”
“Shut up and accept your mother’s apology,” Dad says in a gruff tone. “If you want to throw your life away out here in a town with no decent skiing, we’ve given up on stopping you.”
“Gee, thanks,” I say, all sarcasm.
“We really are sorry,” Mom says. She actually sounds like she means it. “We may not be happy with your choices, but we love you and we don’t want to lose you. If we promise to stop interfering in your life, will you consider visiting after we get back from our cruise?”
“Any chance you can also stop telling me things like I’m throwing my life away?”
“We’re allowed to have opinions, Garrick,” Dad says. “You can’t expect us to keep quiet about how we feel.”
“But we won’t do anything to force your hand.” Mom straightens her robe and doesn’t meet my eyes. “We’ll accept this as your choice for now and simply hope you may change your mind someday.”
“And that you’ll bring your brother home with you when you do,” Dad says. “When I suggested you work with him, I meant in Sugar Valley. I didn’t mean for you to bring him out here.”
“You were right about him,” I say. “He’s working out great.”
My dad huffs and shakes his head, but doesn’t argue.
I could rage at them about not seeing things from my perspective or explain to them not all opinions need to be vocalized, but what they’ve already given me is huge for them. I know them well enough to know that. And, maybe with time, they’ll change those opinions about me.
“Okay. I’ll visit when you get back.” I hold up a hand. “But if you pull anything like what you pulled with Avery again—”
Mom leaps up from her seat and wraps herself around me in a hug. “Thank you, Garrick. We promise we’ll behave.”
I hug her back, my eyes burning for some inexplicable reason. Maybe because it feels good to have them back in my life. I didn’t really want to have to cut them out completely.
Mom steps back, her eyes lighting with her smile.
“Do you think there’s any chance we can forget the past?” I ask. “Forget the kid I used to be and see me as an adult who’s grown and changed?”
Mom’s brow creases. “You’re our baby boy, Garrick. Why would we ever want to forget that?”
“Enough talking,” Dad says. “We need to get to bed. We have to be on the road early for our cruise.”
Oh, well. It was worth a try. I hadn’t really expected them to develop selective amnesia on my behalf. “No time to see the headquarters of Evergreen Expeditions before you go?”
“We’ve seen it,” Mom says. “Lindsay gave us a tour while you and Mav were out. It’s a lovely little business.”
Dad wraps an arm around her shoulders and pulls her toward the back of the house. As they pass, he slaps my shoulder. “Good work, kid. It’s a nice place you’ve got.”
He doesn’t even look at me as the two of them make their way back to the small guest bedroom, but the compliment feels like the best gift he’s ever given me. He didn’t have to say it. He wasn’t trying to get something from me.
Those compliments from both my parents fill me with so much warmth, I almost don’t mind it the next morning when they make me late to work. They don’t cook, and what kind of son would I be if I let them leave without breakfast? Was the guilt trip they laid on heavy.
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
Blue
Every parking lot in town is packed and tourists are already pouring in for the first day of the holiday festival. I’ve been working so hard between my job as mayor and planning the festival, I’ve barely had time to sleep, much less to think about Garrick and his complete absence.
He doesn’t deserve my forgiveness, but I still expected him to show up at my office or my apartment begging for it. I’d been looking forward to turning him down, that’s all.
I’m totally over him. My heartache was actually just a bad case of acid reflux.
And if I keep telling myself that over and over again, maybe I’ll actually believe it.
