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I lead Isabella over to my chair and make her sit down, while I pour her a glass of water.
She takes it with shaking hands and sips at the cool liquid, tears still flowing down her face.
“Do you want to talk about it?” I ask her.
“Not really,” she says, her lip wobbling. “Unless it’s about how we cut Danny’s balls off with a pair of rusty scissors.”
“Ouch.” I wince. “But sure, we can do that.” I touch my lip. “Maybe shears would be better. Or a plastic knife.”
“You hold him down and I’ll do the rest,” she says, her voice stronger. “I hate him.”
“He’s not worth hating,” I tell her. And it’s true. I’m over him. Over all of it. The thought makes me feel light.
Isabella, on the other hand, doesn’t seem over anything. “I can’t believe I ever let myself fall for him.” She gives me a sad look. “Or that I lost you over him.”
“Well, let’s not let him ruin our day,” Mom says.
“I can’t believe Dad recruited him after everything that happened,” Issy continues, ignoring her. “Did he do it on purpose? To get more publicity?”
“Your dad is stupid,” Mom says. “But not that stupid.” She looks at her phone. “I’ve asked the makeup team to meet us at Gramps’ house,” she says to Isabella. “I figure the longer we can stay away from here the better.”
It’s a good idea to keep them separated. I smile at Mom and she smiles back.
“Will you come, too?” she asks.
“Me?”
She smiles. “Yes, you. I’d like to spend time with both my girls. We’ll get our hair done, eat some bad food, have some fun.”
“I can’t,” I say. “I’ve got too much to do.” There’s not enough staff to cover everything we need to finish before the game. If I leave them I’d feel terrible.
“Are you sure?”
I nod. “I’m sure. But I’d like to do that… another time.”
She beams. “I’d like that, too.” She looks at Isabella. “Go ahead, honey, I’ll be right behind you.”
Isabella nods and stands, looking more like her normal self. She puts her arms around me and hugs me tight. “Thank you for not hating me anymore.”
“Likewise.” My voice is muffled by her shoulder.
She walks out, closing the door behind her and it’s just me and my mom.
“I’m sorry,” she says. “That you’re all caught up in this. You shouldn’t have to deal with the cameras or the drama. And you certainly shouldn’t have to deal with Danny. I’ve told your father he owes you big time for this.”
“It doesn’t matter,” I tell her. “It’ll all be over after tonight.”
“When you agreed to come here and help Gramps, I was so excited. After all these years, it felt like you might finally want to be part of our family again.” Her face crumples. “And now we’ve made you unhappy.”
For the first time, I see things from her view. How hard it must have been for her two daughters to be fighting. And then rather than talk to her, I turned away. Changed my name, moved to New York, refused to have anything to do with being a Gauthier.
I pushed her away because I was scared she’d choose Isabella over me.
I think of all those times she tried to call and I was too busy with work. All those times she messaged and I didn’t reply for days. Or at all. I made a choice to isolate myself so I didn’t have the pain of them doing it to me.
“I’m not unhappy,” I tell her. “I’ve never been more happy.”
“Really?” Her eyes light up. “Is that true?”
