Page 82 of Red Mountain Burning
Margot caught herself from going on, knowing she was pushing this teen really hard, and said, “Sorry. I obviously have had some stuff penned up inside that needed to get out. I guess we both did.”
“I’m just surprised to hear you say something meaningful,” Carly admitted.
“I’ve come a long way from the woman I used to be,’ Margot said, realizing that maybe Carly did best with tough love. “But I’m still a work in progress. No one knows that more than I do.” Margot thought back to the woman she had been in Vermont.
Carly put out her cigarette. “You need to get over the weight thing. Who cares?”
“Easy for you to say. I’ve been struggling with my weight all my life.”
“If you need things to worry about, there is way worse shit out there to get hung up on.”
“Fair enough. So you hate me because I want to be skinny on the day that I marry your father? That’s all this is?”
Carly thought about it. “I don’t hate you, but you definitely drive me crazy sometimes.”
“I get it,” Margot said. “My dad died when I was in my twenties, while I was living and acting in New York. And my mom wasted no time in dating again. I was so angry about it. She even had the nerve to bring…”
“That’s what it is,” Carly said, a light bulb apparently going off. “I guess it just occurred to me. You’re an actor, and you haven’t stopped acting. I feel like my dad doesn’t even know who he’s marrying. Idefinitelydon’t know who you are.”
Margot couldn’t remember being so beat up in many years. At the same time, it felt like she needed a little tough love too. “I guess it just comes down to my trying to make you like me—an effort that’s obviously not working.”
“I don’t like fake.”
“Maybe not, but you’re a pretty good actor yourself, hiding behind all your problems, acting like the world is against you. I think your problem is that you’re worried your mom and dad are moving on without you.”
“That might be part of it, but it’s not that simple.”
“Explain it to me then.”
Carly took a moment to consider her response. “It’s not that I think my mom is moving on. It’s just that the person she is with…her boyfriend…just sucks. He walks all over her, and she doesn’t even realize it. I don’t want to be around that. And then look at you guys and your perfect life up here. You and your cooking, and your inn, and the gardening. What do you not do?” She rolled her eyes. “And of course, you have the perfect son. I don’t exactly fit in here. I don’t fit in anywhere.”
Margot scooted toward Carly. “Who paid you to call me the perfect wife and mom? I’ll double it if you’ll whisper that into my ear every morning.”
Carly slowly rolled the wheel on her lighter, making a series of clicking sounds.
“First of all, I’m so far from perfect, and I’m not talking about my body. More importantly, you are a part of this family. How much you participate is up to you, but you will be my daughter, and I’m going to love you as such. You do fit in. That’s the great thing about everyone on this mountain. We all fit in. And believe me: we like having you here.”
“Yeah, right. My dad wants me to go to school. I think that’s his way of getting rid of me.”
“Let me tell you something about your father. He loves you more than anyone else in the world. Even more than me.”
Carly suddenly burst into tears, and Margot felt like the stars were dropping around her. She moved closer and wrapped an arm around her. To Margot’s surprise, Carly didn’t push her away.
“I’m never going to replace your mom,” Margot said. “I just want to love your dad—and you too, if you’ll let me. My choice to marry Remi was also a choice to have you in my life. In fact, he was very specific in saying that he would not stop trying to get you back. And when he did, I’d have to accept you as my own.”
“He said that?”
“He said exactly that.” Though this was one of the hardest conversations Margot had ever had, she felt more clear-headed and present than she’d been in a long time.
“I’ll make a deal with you,” Margot said.
Carly wiped her eyes. “What’s that?”
“I’ll stop obsessing over my weight and try to be more real if you’ll try a little harder to be a part of this family and give your dad a fair shot. Look, I want you to like me, but I can’t force you to, but it’s time to give your dad another chance. You don’t want to spend the rest of your life regretting how you’re treating him. Or your mom, for that matter. Life’s too short.”
Carly lit up another cigarette.
“Even shorter if you don’t quit smoking those things, but that’s for another time.”
