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“Yeah?”
“Those Towering Pines boys are a different breed. I’ve never known any man as faithful to his girl as Blake Anderson. If Theron’s half as in love with you as Blake is with Parker, he’ll be here.”
Is Theron in love with me? I still don’t know. It’s not like he hasn’t had plenty of opportunities to tell me. There was a moment before he went back home after helping me move into my apartment when he looked into my eyes and I thought he was going to say it. But he just kissed the hell out of me, carried me back to bed, and stayed another night.
Not that I’m complaining, of course. I just had hoped he’d say it.
And I would have told him by now but, to be totally honest, I’m afraid. I’ve never told anyone I love them. I can’t recall anyone ever saying it to me. It scares the shit out of me that the first person I ever say it to might not say it back.
“Okay, Skye,” Mina says pulling me from my thoughts and saving me from wallowing in my fear. “The Rose tradition.” She takes my hand and leads me through the gallery. Stops in front of one of my favorite pieces. A recreation of the heart I painted on the side of the barn the day everything changed with Theron. “A little broken but still beating,” Mina reads the name on the plaque beside it. “This one will be your first sale.”
“I’m still worried no one will show up.”
“I won’t give you false hope. Tonight will likely be a small turnout. But trust me, word will get around.Who’s this young artist, barely out of diapers who got a show at The Rose?People will be beating down the door for bragging rights. To say they were there when you got your start.”
I’d question her confidence in my work because there are still several voices in my head telling me I’m not good enough. Two of them belong to the parents who never replied to my invitation for tonight. I considered snubbing them. What have they ever done to deserve to share in my success? But then I thought, if I am successful, they’ll never be able to say that I didn’t try to include them. Claim that they would have been here for me if I’d been a decent daughter and bothered to tell them about it. No. Now, I’ll have a moment I can point to and show them why they’re not allowed to hurt me anymore. Their failure to be decent parents is on them. Not me.
“Ms. Rose?” Mina’s assistant calls from a service room door on one side of the gallery floor. “The caterer is asking to speak with you.”
“Be right there,” Mina calls back. “Take a deep breath, Skye. Drink in the experience. Tonight will be unforgettable.”
She’s absolutely right. I just hope Theron gets to live in this memory with me.
thirty-six
THERON
Theauctiontookalot longer than I anticipated. But I think, if I leave now, I might just make it to the gallery before it’s over.
Looking for my mom, to tell her I’m on my way out, my heart sinks to find her curled up on her bed sobbing.
“Mom.” I rush over and squat beside the bed putting my arm around her.
“What’s wrong? What happened?”
She doesn’t answer. Instead, she buries her face further into her pillow.
“Mom—.”
“Oh, Theron,” she wails turning my way again. It takes her a second to catch her breath. When she does, I still barely understand her. “This is really it, isn’t it?”
“What is?”
“It hadn’t hit me until now. This isn’t our home anymore. And now… It’s like I’m losing him all over again.”
“Oh, Mom.”
“I thought it would be a relief to let it go. To start new someplace else. We were supposed to do everything together. I don’t want to go anywhere new without him. You were right, this place was his dream and I killed it. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.” At first, I think her apologies are for me. She’s looking at me but as she repeats them sobbing uncontrollably again, I understand they’re for my dad.
I want to say something. Find words to comfort her but I don’t think there are any. Nothing can bring him back or make this right. Even if we were able to cancel the sale and keep the farm, it wouldn’t change anything. Her life, our lives, still have to go on without him.
Without a word, I wrap my arms around her and hug her close where I kneel beside the bed.
After a moment, her arms find their way around my shoulders to hug me back and the tears I didn’t know I was holding back spill out to soak her shirt.
“I’m so sorry, Mom. I’m so sorry. For everything.”
Her body shudders in my arms and for several minutes we hold each other tight and let go of the two years of fighting against each other when we should have been helping each other through the pain.
