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“Don’t forget, she decorated the turkey up so pretty that I had to take pictures to send to my daughter in Oklahoma,” Mrs.Jojo interrupted.
Mom nodded.“That too.She is absolutely as beautiful on the inside as she is on the outside.Then, you showed up, and she suddenly had to leave.The first I heard of it all day.You did something, and you’d better fix it.She’s exactly what Sarah needs.Sylvia was never a mother to that child, but I see now why Sarah is undamaged because of it.Oakley is the reason.She was the one to stand in the gap, and she filled it up so that Sarah had all she needed.”Mom jammed the tip of her finger into my chest.“And I won’t let you take that away from her.Now, go fix what you did and pray that girl has somewhere to go for Thanksgiving when she gets home because if she doesn’t, you’re not getting one bite of my dressing.”
Scott let out a low whistle, which I ignored.
Hearing my mom talk about Oakley was all I needed to push the rest of the jaded fog from the past away so that I could see her clearly.Mom was right.Oakley wasn’t the girl who had crushed me.She was a woman.A real damn good one.I just didn’t know what to do with that.How to handle it.Because if I let myself acknowledge that Oakley was everything Mom had just said, then my heart was in danger.Again.
By the only female in the world to ever bring me to my knees.
“Whatever he needs to do so we can start eating before I starve to death would really be appreciated,” Porter said loudly.
My mom stepped out of my way and waved a hand for me to go check on Sarah.I moved past her as the heavy weight on my chest just got worse.
“Go ahead and butter you a roll and eat it,” Mom told Porter.
“What about me?”Scott asked, sounding whiny as fuck.
“You too.And … and you too, uh … sweetie,” she replied.
Mom couldn’t remember Scott’s date’s name, yet she had just halted Thanksgiving and threatened me after praising the ground Oakley walked on.
No matter where she went, Oakley Jones stood out.She made an impression.And it wasn’t because of the way she looked.Mom was right, dammit.
Sarah appeared through the doorway with Belladonna glued to her side.Her red-rimmed eyes looked up at me.I’d not only hurt Oakley.I had hurt Sarah too.If I hadn’t lied and said that shit in the living room, then Oakley wouldn’t have left.Sarah wouldn’t be crying.
This was my fault.All of it.
“Hey, sweetheart,” I said, squatting down to her level.“It’s Thanksgiving.No tears.”
She sniffled, and then her mouth turned down in the saddest expression I’d ever fucking seen.
“Oaky left,” she said softly.“And I don’t know why.She said it was because she had to go to Gran and Pop’s, but I know she was lying to me.I’d heard her tell Daphne on the phone that Gran was still mad at her and she wasn’t welcome at their house.”
I took her hands in mine and held them tightly.“Maybe she had a date with that guy she’s seeing and didn’t want to tell you that was why she was leaving.”It wasn’t a lie.
He had asked her.I’d heard him over the damn security system, and then like a psycho stalker, I’d interrupted and told her she had plans.I didn’t listen to her conversation with him when we stopped talking.I had forced myself to close the app and walk away from it.Get some space from her.From the way she made me feel.
Sarah shook her head.“She doesn’t.He texted her again last night, asking if she was sure she couldn’t make it to Thanksgiving dinner tonight.Oaky told him she was positive.She would be here until late.But she’s not, and she has nowhere to go.”
Because of me.Fuck.I had to fix this.I wasn’t going to be able to eat any of the damn food and enjoy myself while I felt like the shithead I currently was.
“What if I go talk to her?She has to go by the house to get her things and drop off my Range Rover.I could go catch her there and get her to come back.”
Sarah’s eyes lit up.“You would go do that?”she asked hopefully.
“For you, I would do anything.”
She threw her arms around my neck.“Thank you, Daddy!”
I hugged her back, and Belladonna started barking.Damn dog was probably giving me her two cents too.
Twenty-One
Oakley
Knowing that Sarah and Wilder wouldn’t be home soon, I took my time packing up, cleaning the kitchen thoroughly, washing the sheets on my bed, then making it up.I didn’t want there to be any mess left for Wilder to blame on me.The next time he went out of town, I wanted him to call me.
But now that I knew how poorly he thought of me, I wasn’t sure I’d get that call.
