AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Hell, how long do you need? Just go on Travelocity or something. Text me when you’ve got it all set up. She can stay as long as she wants.”
A lump formed in Ruth’s throat, made up of an odd mixture of fury and terror. “I’m not doing this on the fly. I’ll think about it.”
“Yeah, well, don’t think about it too long. I want this to happen. ASAP.”
“I don’t give a flying fuck what you want. I said I’ll think about it.” It was a small miracle that she hadn’t raised her voice. She could only hope David didn’t notice the slight tremor.
He was silent for a moment. “Goddammit, Ruth.”
Ruth closed her eyes. This conversation had already gone on too long. “I said I’ll think about it and I’ll talk to Carol. Anything else?”
“No. I’ll be in touch. Get it done.” The line went dead. As always, David was the king of the dramatic exit line.
Ruth sighed and hung up. Now for the fun part of the evening: talking to her daughter about why exactly she wasn’t going to California.
Chapter Four
Carol had retreated to her bedroom, although Ruth didn’t believe for a moment that she hadn’t listened to the phone call, at least Ruth’s end of it. She climbed the stairs to the second floor.
At least Carol’s bedroom door was open, which saved knocking. Ruth leaned in the doorway, studying her.
She’d grown an inch or so over the year, but she was still a little girl, slender and small. She’d only turned twelve last month. Ruth’s heart gave a quick throb. Don’t grow up too fast, sweetheart. Let me have you with me a little longer.
She managed to ruthlessly kick that sentiment aside. If she wanted to get to the bottom of this situation, she needed to at least try to be objective. “That was your father on the phone.”
Carol nodded stiffly. “I heard.”
“He says he invited you to come visit him in California.”
Carol’s jaw tightened. “Yeah. So?”
“Why didn’t you tell me about this when we got home?” Ruth moved farther into the bedroom, pulling over the rocker to sit in so that she could face her daughter.
Carol shrugged. She hadn’t lifted her gaze from the floor since Ruth had come into the room. “Why should I? I knew you wouldn’t let me.”
Ruth sighed. She was tired of this game. Of all the games. “I couldn’t even think about letting you if I didn’t know about it.”
Carol raised her eyes at that. Ruth blinked. Her daughter’s face was scrunched into pure fury.
“I knew you wouldn’t let me no matter what I said. You’ll never let me go visit Dad. It’s no use talking to you about it.”
Ruth caught her breath. “You never told me you wanted to go before.” Mainly because David had never asked her to go before.
“I want to go. I kept asking Dad to let me and he kept saying maybe sometime, and now it’s sometime.” Carol’s lower lip extended. “Why can’t I? I’m old enough.”
Technically, she was. She could fly as an unaccompanied minor with a flight attendant to look after her. Ruth had a momentary vision of Carol standing alone and abandoned in the vastness of LAX because David had forgotten which day his daughter was coming. Or he’d forgotten to tell his PA to pick her up. Or the PA had forgotten what she was supposed to do, given that David’s PAs were frequently hired for something other than their efficiency. “We can talk about it.”
“You see? That means no.” Carol’s lower lip began to tremble. “Why don’t you want me to spend time with Dad?”
“I don’t mind if you spend time with your father. But I need a lot more information before I can buy in. You can’t just go out there on a whim. It takes a lot of planning.” Something David had never had much luck with.
“Grandma said it would be okay.” Carol looked like she’d bitten into something sour.
Of course, David’s indulgent mother would give her approval. “Your grandmother’s not the one making this decision. I need to know what your father’s plans are. I need to know where you’ll be and what you’ll be doing. And when you’ll be back. I don’t even know what your father’s working on right now.”
