Page 35 of The Cowboy and His Beauty
It's like she's brought me back into the real world, and I don't plan on letting her down.
Chapter 22
Sky
The entire drive here, I tried to rehearse what I wanted to say to my parents, but I still have no idea. There are so many different ways they could react that it's impossible to have a clear set path and conversation.
I understand that, but that doesn't mean I like it. I like having a plan. I like knowing what direction things are going in and I like being in control of the situation. I'm won’t have any of that here.
So, when I pull into the driveway, my nerves ratchet up a gear. I know I can do this. I know I have to do this. Thanks to Sarah and Mac, I have a solid game plan in place to get me where I want to be, and I'm not going to let them down.
I walk up the steps of the front porch and my feet feel like they're covered in lead. It takes less than a minute to reach the front door, but it feels like hours before I'm finally ringing the doorbell.
This time, it's my dad who opens the door. He looks at me but doesn't say anything, just opens the door wider for me to step in. My mom is in her chair in the living room as I enter with my dad right behind me.
"Did you come back to apologize for how you treated us?" my mom asks.
"I came back to say what I should have said that night. How dare you do that to him? How dare you do that to us? What kind of parent knowingly inflicts that kind of pain on their child?"
"How dare you—"
I hold up a hand to stall her because I’m nowhere near done. I know I'm leading with my emotions, but that's what needs to happen. "I never got over the heartbreak of what he did to me. It changed the entire trajectory of my life. You think it was for the best, but it wasn’t. I was miserable in Dallas. I was miserable going to school, and every time something good happened, all I wanted to do was reach out to my best friend, but I couldn't because you pushed him out of my life.
“All the years we lost. You robbed us of that time and caused us unnecessary hurt. If you're not going to support the decisions I make, you don't deserve to be in my life. You don't get to control and manipulate me anymore."
With that, I pull the emergency credit card they gave me out of my pocket and put it on the counter. I turn and walk out, ignoring anything they try to say to me.
I get in my car, and even though I'm only going next door to stay at the Mac family lake house, I take the long way around the lake before pulling into the driveway.
I always loved it when Mac's family came to visit. Since Sarah made friends with him, we pretty much lived at this house with them. His sisters, Megan and Sage, craved more females because they were so sick of being with all their brothers, and the four of us got into so much trouble.
Even now, those memories make me smile. And when Corey came into the picture, he supported me in having friends.
He spent hours teasing me about what would happen when we got together. Was it pillow fights and doing our hair and makeup? I giggled and let him feed into whatever little fantasy he wanted.
Because in reality, we spent a lot of time talking about him, and about the other guys. We took over the basement and watched movies and pigged out on all the junk food.
Life was so much easier and carefree back then.
I'm so lost in my memories that when my phone rings, I nearly jump out of my skin. I’m standing between the living room in an empty house, staring off at the lake, when reality comes crashing down on me.
Why is Ben calling me?
"Hello?" I answer hesitantly.
"Hey, so don't be mad."
"For the record, Ben, anytime you open a conversation with ‘hey, don't be mad,’ a girl is instantly going to be mad. This might be why you're still single."
Ben laughs. "For the record, I'm single because I’m way too picky for the girls in this town. But now that you mention it, that might be why every time I've tried to talk to my sister lately, she gets pissed off because a lot of our conversations start that way."
"Yeah, I'd say there's a good chance that's it. What do you want, Ben?"
"So, I heard what was going on with you and Dash."
"Wait. How the hell did you hear that?" I ask, already irritated.
"I had to talk to him about something else, and I could tell something was going on, so I kind of pulled it out of him. Hence the don't be a mad part."
