“I’m not going anywhere soon,” she said. “Don’t worry. I wouldn’t abandon you in your time of need.” I was definitely in that time right now. I needed as many people on my side as I could possibly get.
She changed the topic and asked if we were going out this weekend.
“I’m guessing everyone else will, but I’m probably going to be at my parents’ house to help my mom out.” My time really wasn’t my own right now. It was only temporary, though. I could deal with it. Pretty soon it would be time for my bachelorette party and then my wedding. Wow, I’d almost completely forgotten about the wedding. Maybe that was a good thing? I wasn’t stressing about it, but I was stressing about work. I guess I was just destined to stress about something.
We finished our lunch and headed back. I definitely felt a lot less stressed. I got a call on my cell phone when I got back to my office. It was Chloe with the times for my mom’s spa day. I’d almost forgotten about that as well. I was forgetting everything lately. Maybe I should start making lists to remind myself.
“Thanks so much, Chlo. I seriously appreciate it,” I said. She told me it was no big deal and then I called my mom.
“Rory, is everything okay?”
“Yes, I just wanted to call and check in with Dad.” Guess he was driving the nurses crazy and they were ready to be rid of him. That made me laugh. Sounded like he was getting back to his old self. Good thing he was coming home today.
“So listen, I got Chloe to book you a day at the spa on Saturday. Full day, any treatment you want. Massage, body wrap, whatever. It’s yours.”
“Oh, Rory, that’s not necessary. That’s too much,” she said. I knew she was going to say that. It was going to take some convincing to get her to agree to it.
“Mom. I love you, but I’m not in the mood to fight you on this. You’re going, even if I have to drag you there.” There was so much silence on the other end, I thought the call had dropped.
She sighed and then laughed.
“Oh, Rory. There’s so much of your father in you. All right, all right. I wouldn’t do it if you and Lucah weren’t coming over.” That was fine. I’d take it. Besides, I didn’t fancy the idea of dragging my mother to the spa. I couldn’t even picture it.
“Great. You deserve it.” She really did.
~*~*~
I was surprised on Wednesday to receive a call from Hal Marksman.
“Oh. Hal, hello,” I said. This was probably going to be awkward.
“I’m sorry to call, Rory, but I just really wanted to let you know that I’m sorry for what happened. I miss seeing everyone and playing golf with Walter. I… I made a huge mistake and I can never take it back.” He sounded just as contrite as he’d been the night before. Sure, I was still angry and I wasn’t going to get over that with two conversations, but I could feel myself starting to soften a little toward him. Dammit. Dammit with a side of crap.
“I know you’re sorry. I know you’re sincere. It’s just hard for me to get over everything that happened. I think it’s worse for me than Dad because I’ve just known you my whole life. You’ve been like a member of our family and then you turned around and stabbed us all in the back. It hurt. A lot.” I didn’t want to tell him all that, but it came out of my mouth anyway. Couldn’t stop now.
“Oh, Rory. I’m just so sorry. I really thought I was doing what was right. I didn’t do it to hurt you. Or Walter. That’s what I regret the most. Hurting Walter and thinking that maybe…” he trailed off and I knew what he was thinking. That if he hadn’t done it, maybe Dad wouldn’t have had his heart attack. Ridiculous, but I could understand why he’d think some of the blame lay with him.
“It’s not your fault he had a heart attack. It’s not anyone’s, except God’s, I suppose.” If you believed in Him, and I didn’t really want to get into that whole discussion with Walter at the moment.
“I know. Still. I would make different choices, if I had a do-over.” Well, he didn’t. I was a bitch, and I was angry at him, but it took a lot of energy to keep that up. I didn’t want to hold these feelings inside me anymore. They didn’t make things better. They weren’t productive. They just made me more grouchy and pissy.
“I forgive you, Hal. That doesn’t mean I’m not still upset about how it turned out, but I forgive you.” The words were difficult to say, but I got them out. Dad would want me to say them. Dad would want me to forgive him.
“Thank you, Rory. That means a lot. That means more than you know.” He sounded emotional and it was working on me.
“It’s okay,” I said. He cleared his throat and then asked if I knew when my dad would be back to the golf course, which made me laugh.
“I’m not sure, but I think it’s going to be later rather than sooner if Mom has anything to say about it. But maybe he’ll sneak off.” I could see him doing that.
“That’s good to know. Maybe I’ll bust him out of jail and take him over to the Club.” Dad would love that. Mom wouldn’t. I told him that I approved of the plan and then we hung up. I felt a little better about how things had turned out with us. It was a shame it happened in the first place, but at least now he was trying to make things right.
When the day was finally over, Lucah came and got me, but we didn’t get takeout.
“Sloane will kill us,” I said and he agreed. To my not surprise and not astonishment, Sloane was in our apartment when we got back, busily stirring pots on the stove.
“Hello, Brother Ginger. Future Sister Ginger.” That was a new one.
“Um, Brother? Sister? Is there something you need to tell me?” She looked up and shook her head, but there was something in her eyes. Was she getting ready to join me in walking down the aisle? She and Ryder had just started dating. But I couldn’t really say anything, because what the hell was I doing? Lucah and I hadn’t even been together for a year and now we were getting married. So, I wasn’t the best one to be telling someone it was too soon to get engaged.