Page 89 of Count Your Lucky Stars
She pressed her lips together, throat jerking when she swallowed, nodding slowly. “You’re right. I—I need to talk to Dad.” She huffed through her nose, a little agitated noise punctuated by an eye roll. “He’s the only one who can answer my questions. Until then, it’s all hypothetical and—”
“So you’ll talk to him.” Margot swept her thumb against the back of Olivia’s knuckles, trying to soothe her the best she could. She lifted their joined hands, raising them high enoughthat she could brush her lips against the side of Olivia’s thumb in a quick kiss. Her chest clenched when Olivia smiled and—God, why had she been fighting this? Caring about Olivia came as easy as breathing. Margot should’ve known resistance was futile, that she’d always wind up here. “You’ll talk to him and he’ll explain and it’ll all make sense.”
Olivia sucked in a shuddering breath. “Or he’ll just tell me not to worry. You heard him on the phone. He’s really good at brushing things under the rug and sounding okay when he’s not.”
Words of reassurance failed her. There were only so many times Margot could say that everything would be all right before the words lost their value. “Just wait and see what he has to say, okay? Take it from there.”
Olivia’s lower lip wobbled before she trapped it between her teeth, blinking fast. “Am I a terrible daughter?” she whispered.
“What the hell, Liv? Why would you think that?” That was absurd. “You’re not. Jesus. If you’re a terrible daughter, I don’t even want to know what that makes me.”
Olivia lifted a shoulder in a half-hearted shrug. “I don’t understand why he wouldn’t tell me something like this.”
Maybe because he knew it would make her worry? “He probably doesn’t want to worry you. That’s the vibe I got from the call in the car.”
Olivia’s teeth scraped her bottom lip. She was going to bleed if she wasn’t careful. “If he doesn’t want me to worry, that means there’s something worth worrying over.”
Margot’s back teeth clacked together. That wasnotthe direction she’d meant to send Liv’s thoughts. That was theoppositeof what she wanted, to rekindle Olivia’s concerns. “Just wait until you talk to him, okay?”
Olivia sniffled. “I think—I think I need to talk to him in person. See that he’s actually okay and—it’s harder for him to fib to my face, you know?”
That made sense. Seeing was believing and all that. “Sure.”
“You think?”
Margot nodded. “Totally. You know, I haven’t seen my parents since... God, since Christmas. If you want, we can drive down together on Monday. Or Sunday, I guess, if we’re not too tired or hungover.”
Olivia’s fingers slackened around Margot’s, and she stepped back. “I was thinking more along the lines of, I need to talk to him in personnow.”
“Now? Liv, that’s...” She swallowed hard, the next words out of her mouth about to beridiculous, and that would’ve been a shitty thing to say even though a part of herdidthink it was ridiculous. “I think you need to take a deep breath and relax, and we can head down to dinner—”
“There’s no way I can relax until I talk to my dad. I’ll be no fun to be around. I’ll just be worrying, and Annie and Brendon shouldn’t have to put up with—”
“Hey, hey.” Margot settled her hands on Olivia’s waist. “No one’s putting up with anything, Liv. I know Annie and Brendon. Trust me, they would hate the idea that you’re more worried about their reaction to you stressing than what’sactuallystressing you. I promise.”
Olivia took a step back, then one more, too far away for Margot to reach. Margot’s hands fell to her sides.
“There’s no way I’m going to be able to sleep tonight,” Olivia said.
“It’s early. Your dad could still call you.”
“But—”
“You want to talk to him in person, I know.” Margot sighed and slipped her fingers under her lenses, rubbing her eyes. “But you can’t just pick up and go to Enumclaw right now.”
“It’s not even an hour away. If I leave now, I could make it there before eight. I can talk to Dad and figure out what the hell is going on and why the house is for sale.”
If I leave now. Leave.A pit formed in Margot’s stomach, the word tripping a trigger in her brain. Olivia wanted to leave. Leave and come back... right?
“Look, I know you’re concerned, but... the rehearsal is tomorrow. The wedding is on Saturday.”
Olivia was already moving across the room, gathering up a sock from the foot of the bed and her leggings from the floor. She plopped down on the edge of the bed and slipped a foot into her pants. “Trust me, Mar, I amwellaware of when the wedding is. I’m the wedding planner, remember?” She shot Margot a tight smile. “It’ll be fine. I’ll drive down tonight, talk to Dad, spend the night, and leave tomorrow morning. The rehearsal isn’t until one, the rehearsal dinner not until later that evening. Setup starts at three. I’ll make it back in time. Heck, there’s a decent chance I’ll beat you all back to town, depending on what time I hit the road.”
Margot worried the inside of her cheek, weighing out a gentler way to say what needed to be said that wouldn’t piss Olivia off. “Liv, don’t you think you should maybe . . . sit onthis for a second? Think it through. Call your dad again, text him. See if he calls you tonight, talk it out on the phone, and if you’re still worried, we can drive down on Sunday. Together.”
“And if he doesn’t call?” Olivia smoothed the stretchy spandex leggings up over her knees, standing to tug them the rest of the way on. She set her hands on her hips and frowned. “He’s heading up to Forks tomorrow. He said he might not have coverage, and he’s not always going to have his phone on him. Plus, like you said, the rehearsal is tomorrow, and me driving down tonight isn’t going to be a problem. I’m going to make it back in time.”
“It’s not a question of whether you’ll make it back or not, although anything can happen. It’s more a matter of you dropping everything to go check on your dad when just yesterday he told you he was fine and promised he’d tell you otherwise. He told you not to worry. He told you to have a good time and he mademepromise to make sure you do.”
