When he woke again, his shoulders ached. At first, he thought only minutes had passed, but as his eyelashes fluttered, he realized it was light outside and he’d slept all night. Amazing, he thought. When he slept with Ari, he could go a full eight hours, like a normal person, but how had she gotten off the sofa without awakening him? Had she gone to bed? “Ari?”
When no answer came, he sat up. A year fell away, and once more, it was the day before Christmas. He was watching his father walk down the hallway at the hospital. One look at his his face on that particular day, and Bruno had known his mom was gone. He had the same sinking, anguished feeling now. Ari was gone, and maybe there was no point in chasing her. Maybe she wouldn’t come back. Maybe she would keep leaving him. Maybe she’d never learn to really stand up to her folks and live her own life. A lot of people never really learned how to do that.
Yes...she might keep leaving him over and over, until it was truly the end. She’d left every man before him, after all. No matter how much he’d vowed to himself after his mom died, that he would live in line with his true emotions, it would not matter. He was only half of the equation, and maybe Ari’s plans weren’t going to include him.
“Damn,” he muttered.
Then he got up. He might be only half the equation, but he was a damn important half. And he wasn’t like the other guys she’d known. He wanted her too badly. And he was not going to let her go without a fight.
Chapter Ten
Bruno had told her about the cardboard, so Ari found it easily, wedged it under her tires for traction, then drove the truck out of the ditch. She had to get away from him this morning. Had to think. Yes, something had to give. None of this was Bruno’s problem. Ari had let Mom Mad ruin things last night. She hated her this morning, she really did! Dad Mad, too, for letting Mom Mad be so overbearing. Someone had to put a stop to it.
“But I need coffee first,” she muttered. She was trying to drive carefully, too, since the roads were slicker than they had been the previous night. Pulling into one of Rick Holding’s minimarts, she got out of the truck and went to the coffee stand. “Whoa!” she exclaimed, sputtering after a first drink that tasted like rocket fuel. Returning to the truck, she winced, and forced herself to sip the wretched coffee. Yes, she needed to wake up and compose herself for the job ahead. She couldn’t go off half-cocked.
After finishing the coffee, she got back on the road, still stewing over last night. Bruno had made everything better, of course, but he shouldn’t have to play Mr. Fixit. She was tired of Mom Mad raining on her parades, and Ari had better things to do than go through life with her whole family acting like wet blankets. No way was she even going home to change. She’d worn this dress to dinner the previous night, but it was nobody’s damn business that she hadn’t made it home, was it?
As soon as she saw her parents’ stone house through the trees, her temper spiked. “What the...” Her voice trailed off when she saw fresh tire tracks by the cypress trees. Gavin? Last night, she’d told him to go home! Was he going to camp outside wherever Lizzie lived? Rather than park by the road, she drove up the driveway, then she got out and slammed the door. She still didn’t know what to say. All these years, she’d been pushing men away, but last night, she’d realized the problem was Mom Mad. Never again was Ari going to let her undermine her confidence. As she approached the house, an unseen hand grabbed her heart and squeezed. The place was picture-postcard perfect in the snow. Straight out of a Thomas Kinkade painting, with white-tinged ivy vines sprawling over a stone façade. Years of good memories were here, especially of playing with Lizzie when they were little. Birthday parties. Cookouts.
Inside, she stopped in the foyer long enough to shrug out of her coat and hang it on the doorknob of the coat closet. Through an archway, she saw Mom Mad, and before she thought it through, she was taking angry strides toward her, words pouring out. “Last night, you made me feel like crap. Total crap,” she began. “After I left here, I finally realized I keep pushing people away, just the way you say I do, but it’s really you I want to get away from! You, and the way you made me feel last night! So, I don’t want to see you for a while. Dad Mad, either. You both act like I can never measure up to Lizzie, to the point I start to hate her, I really do!”