Page 6 of Red Mountain Burning
Margot was taken aback. She knew Remi and his ex-wife texted about Carly sometimes, but Margot had no idea they were speaking on the phone. “When’s the last time you spoke with her?”
“By phone? It’s been a long time.”
Margot wanted to believe him.
He leaned against the counter. “Carly is not doing well at all. I knew she was unhappy, but this is bad. Amber doesn’t think she’s doing drugs, but she’s really down and out. She’s sworn off college, and Amber’s threatening to kick her out of the house.”
Margot sighed and put a hand on his arm. “I’m so sorry. Have you tried calling her?” Remi had kept Margot apprised of his estranged seventeen-year-old daughter’s difficulties during her senior year, but Margot hadn’t known it was this serious.
Remi shook his head, and Margot was reminded of his pain. She couldn’t imagine going years without talking to Jasper. Carly hadn’t even reached out to congratulate Remi on their engagement.
Margot lost herself in Remi’s dark, sad eyes as she waited for more.
“I need to do something about it,” Remi said. “Enough is enough. I thought I might go down there and talk to Carly. Not that I can do any good, but I have to try.” Carly and Amber had been living in San Francisco since the divorce.
Margot’s bleeding heart sank. “Of course, honey. Please do whatever you need to do. Do you want…” She paused, wondering if she should keep her big mouth shut. “Do you want to ask her if she wants to come stay with us for a little while? The mountain seems to cater well to the lost.”
Remi smiled. “I’d love for her to come up and visit, but...”
Though the thought terrified Margot, she wanted to put Remi and Carly first. “Before you fly down there, why don’t you offer her a trip up?”
“I don’t know why she’d talk to me now,” he said defeatedly.
“Well, it sounds like she’s no longer mommy’s girl. Maybe she’s ready, Remi. Call her. Fly down there. Whatever it takes.”
“I just don’t want all this to get in the way of us. Not that itwould. That’s not what I mean. But more…get in the way of this year and our wedding.”
He’d said exactly what Margot was thinking, and she felt the burn of worry in her chest. She tried desperately not to dwell on it. “I’d do anything in my power to help you get your daughter back. Good God, let’s get some perspective here. Our wedding and my size-eight dress, or a young woman—your daughter—finding her way in the world?”
She half-believed what she was saying. Yes, putting the other first in a relationship was supposedly the secret to a love that lasts forever, and it was so important to Remi to reunite with his daughter. But would it be at the cost of his marriage to Margot? Though raising Jasper had been a piece of cake, Margot was well aware of how easily a troubled teenager could rip families apart.
