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“Jay told me.”
With a sigh, Janessa turned her attention back to what she’d been doing. “I hate this. I hate all of it. But most of all, I hate myself for not having done more to keep in contact with her over the past year. I checked in with her regularly, but didn’t press when she said she was fine. I should have pressed. I mean, who, after losing their mom, isfine? I’m a horrible friend.”
It seemed like they both had a multitude of regrets regarding everything that had happened. Somehow, they needed to move past it, and he hoped that the change would start with the conversation he hoped to have with Aria. But if she brushed him off, he would have to accept it.
“I’ll phone in the order, and you can pick it up,” Janessa said. “Same time as usual.”
“Okay.”
He returned to his office, planning to work until he received Janessa’s text to let him know the pizzas had been ordered. It seemed to take forever, but finally his alert went off. After checking the message on his phone, Gareth grabbed his things and left the building, locking it up behind him.
The number of pizzas waiting at the restaurant indicated that more than just the three women and a child were going to be in attendance. But maybe that wasn’t a bad thing.
When he got to the house, he saw that Wilder’s and Jay’s cars were both parked on the street. His younger siblings weren’t likely to be there since they were back to living at the big house, and besides, Friday nights were for friends now that basketball season was over.
Balancing the boxes on his arm, he locked up the car and headed for the house. Once inside, he was quickly relieved of the pizzas.
“How’s it going?” Wilder asked, thumping Gareth on his back. “Gotten over your temper tantrum yet?”
Gareth would have snarked back at him if his younger brother wasn’t speaking some truth. “Working on it.”
“Glad to hear it,” Wilder said. “I’d liked this all resolved before I pull out of town.”
“Is that happening soon?” Gareth asked with a frown. “Don’t you usually wait until April to leave?”
Wilder shrugged. “Yeah. But the slopes just aren’t speaking to me right now. I’m ready for something new.”
“Where are you headed next?”
“Not sure yet. But I’m sure I’ll figure something out.”
Gareth had never been able to understand his brother’s lackadaisical approach to life. It would drive Gareth crazy not to have a plan in place. If he hadn’t been focused and determined, he never would have made it through med school and his residency. It almost seemed like he’d gotten Wilder’s share of those two qualities.
“Have you told Mom yet?”
“Of course not. She’ll just nag me and nag me about making a detailed plan so she knows exactly where I am every single day I’m away.”
“She’s your mom. Of course, she wants to know those things. But even a general schedule would probably make her happy.”
“Well, I can’t even give her that at the moment, so I’d rather wait to tell her.”
“Probably a good idea,” Gareth said as he followed Wilder into the kitchen.
It only took a moment for him to glance around the room and see that Aria wasn’t there. He wasn’t surprised, but he was still disappointed.
As he thought of speaking with her, his nerves flared to life. The next few minutes might very well decide the direction in which his life moved. With Aria or without her.
Either way, he’d learned an important lesson. Unfortunately, it might have taken him too long.
The thing was, going through his residency especially, he’d bumped up against plenty of pride and ego, and he’d likely responded with ego and pride himself without even realizing it.
Since the study the previous night, he’d prayed and spent a lot of time in introspection. It had brought to light plenty of examples in his life where his pride had come into play strongly. Each time, he’d attributed his success to his hard work. And he’d taken pride it in, feeling like he deserved his successes because of his own efforts.
But he had discounted so much. Not the least of which was his incredible support system. That hadn’t come just in the form of his family. He’d had financial support that most didn’t. And on top of all that, he’d had people praying for him.
Would he have had the drive and perseverance if he’d had to accomplish it without all of that?
He remembered what Janessa had said about Aria studying so hard at school because she’d been there on scholarships. It had been just her and her mom, which meant that when her mom passed away, she’d been all alone. And she hadn’t even had a spiritual support system from the church she’d been attending.
