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“He lied to you; he lied to my dead wife’s parents!” Daddy yanked open the silverware drawer, sending the utensils into angry rattling.
“Boone,” Mom said again.
He didn’t even seem to hear her. “And worst of all, he broke my daughter’s heart. How dare he? I mean, just…how dare he?Who does he think he is?” His eyes met Gerty’s, and she shrugged one shoulder. The rage she understood. She’d been where her father currently was.
“Did you tell Grandma and Grandpa?” he asked.
She shook her head. “I just told them we broke up.”
“Honey, you don’t—”
“Boone,” Mom said again. She handed him the cake. “Go outside and calm down. Let me talk to Gerty for a minute alone.”
He gave her a dark look too, but he did what she said. When the back door slammed closed, Gerty let out of a sigh. “See why I didn’t want to talk?”
Mom gave her a sharp look. “I get one minute to lecture.”
Gerty lifted her chin. “Fine.”
“He’s right—you don’t need to hold everything inside yourself. You should’ve told us immediately, so we could help. Secondly, I’m as upset as he is, and if I hadn’t already told him he couldn’t act like that, I’d be on the computer, buying a ticket to Montana to find that man and give him a piece of my mind.”
Gerty’s eyebrows practically flew off her face. “Mom,” she said, completely shocked.
“Third, you should’ve come home sooner, but I’m not going to say another word about it. Heaven knows you’ve already been beating yourself up about it.”
Gerty dropped her chin toward her chest again. “And worse, Mom, Michael Hammond is at the farm, and I held his hand today.”
“Okay, we are not telling your father about that,” she said. “Give him one more day, Gerty, please. He’s going to have a heart attack as it is.”
“He already knows,” Gerty said.
“I’m sure he does.” Mom sighed. “What with you running off this morning the way you did.” Their eyes met, and Gerty didn’t know if she should start crying again or smile.
“I’m not a teenager anymore,” she said.
“We know,” Mom said. “But that doesn’t mean we worry any less about you, honey.” She gave Gerty a warm smile, her own eyes welling with tears. “I’m so, so sorry about this. You know I know what relationship pain is like, and I can’t even imagine carrying it alone.”
Gerty started to weep again, and she had trouble maintaining eye contact. She looked away again, glad when her mom pulled her into a hug. “Lecture’s over,” she whispered. “You get to cry as much as you want, and be mad as much as you want, and if you want to see if you and Mikey have a chance again, that’s okay too.”
“Is it?” Gerty asked. “Because what if I’m just not worth loving?”
“That’s simply not true,” Daddy said, and Gerty opened her eyes to find him standing only a few feet away. “It’s not, Gerty, and I don’t ever want you to feel like that.”
She stepped out of Mom’s arms and nodded.
“Amy asked if they could go over to Joann’s to see the puppies, and I said yes,” he said to Mom.
“Great,” she said. “That’s perfect.”
“There are puppies next door?” Gerty asked. “Can I go over too?”
“No,” Daddy growled. “You’re going to come tell us everything about James, your grandparents, and Michael Hammond.”
Gerty swallowed. So he’d heard. “Daddy,” she said, planting both hands on her hips. “I never once got myself in trouble with Mike, and I’m not going to start now.”
Daddy gave her a smile, some of his usual charm returning to his face. He’d definitely grayed a little in the past year, something Gerty was just now noticing. “Obviously, sugar-pie,” he said. “It’s not you I’m worried about.”
“Hey,” she said. “Mike’s a great man.” In her opinion, she’d be lucky to end up with him. Fear gripped her lungs. Would he find fault with her when she told him about James and what he’d said?
