Page 96 of Wingwoman
Although I was regretting showing up here unannounced.
At a little before ten, it wasn’t late. Not by most people’s standards at least.
And lights were on inside, so I suspected they were still awake.
It just wasn’t my style to arrive unannounced anywhere…
Let alone at my dad’s house.
I grabbed my phone, dialing Carrow. She answered on the first ring.
“Oh no, what’s wrong?”
“What makes you ask that?”
She sighed and even though to most it would have sounded like she was bothered by a phone call between friends, I knew her well enough to know that was her way of cutting through the bullshit.
“If things were mostly fine, you’d text. If you were looking for reassurance or someone to support your choice, you’d call Max. But callingme? You’re looking for tough love. You’re looking for someone to boot you in the ass.” A pause. “Tell me I’m wrong.”
She wasn’t wrong though. “I’m standing in front of Vivian’s and my dad’s house, second guessing if this apology should happen right now. Maybe I should have called her first? I could go home, regroup, then call tomorrow and invite her to coffee or somethi—”
Carrow’s snort interrupted me. “Coffee? After that stunt you pulled, you’d better at least spring for brunch. Brunch with bottomless mimosas.”
“So youdothink I should wait?” I stepped back from the door, a hollow feeling sinking in my gut. The Uber had already driven off. How long would it take another to come pick me up? How long until Rhonda would give Josh my note?
“No,” Carrow said firmly. “The longer you wait, the more awkward it gets. And from what you’ve told me, Vivian doesn’t need or want any sort of formal apology. She just wants to be a part of your family.”
“What family?” I whispered, more to myself than to Carrow.
“Fine,” Carrow said. “She wants tobeyour family. The family you never got as a kid. At least give her a chance.”
I looked up at the peaked roof of the cute ranch house. Though it wasn’t massively large, it was warm-looking and on a lot of sprawling land that even in the evening, I could tell went on for acres and acres.
Off to the side of the house, a quiet chicken coop was surrounded by a fence and barbed wire. I wondered where they would keep the goats if they ever got them. And if she had horses too. Vivian and the Annes seemed like horse girls.
I tried to picture my dad living in this house. Feeding chickens. Milking goats. Walking the dogs. This quaint family life void of alcohol and late nights at the dive bar getting shitfaced.
“I don’t know if I can do it, Rowe,” I said, calling her by her nickname.
“Are you kidding? Of course you can do it. Having a family is much easier than doing things on your own.”
I shook my head. “Not when you’ve been doing it on your own your whole life.”
Another pause. “Remember what you told me when I hired my first assistant and was having trouble?”
I smiled at the memory. Carrow had finally gotten the promotion she deserved… and with it, an assistant to help her with her work load. “You wanted to fire him on his first day,” I laughed.
“That’s right. Because I had a system. And he wasn’t learning my system. But what did you tell me?”
Dammit. I could see the writing on the wall of where this little talk was going and I didn’t like that my own stupid words were going to come back and bite me in the ass. “I said that anytime you have to give up control, it feels impossible. It feels like you’re better off doing it alone. But without their help, you’ll never give yourself the space to grow.”
“Wise words,” Carrow said.
I scrunched my nose. “I hate you.”
“I love you too.” Then, Carrow added, “You’ve had a crazy year. You went from being an only child with a single living parent to learning about four siblings you didn’t know existed. And now you’re adding a stepmom and three stepsisters into the mix. It’s not that you can’t do it. You just need time to adjust to the new normal.”
I sighed and leaned against the railing along their stoop. “I am so smart. My advice is so good, I need it given back to me.”
