No wonder Rhett wanted her to leave. Her father literally punched him in the face. As a teacher, and a civilized human being, it had been drilled in her head that there was no excuse to hit others.
None of it made sense. Her father couldn’t even harm a spider. He wasn’t the violent type.
Her shoulders drooped and she wrapped her cold fingers around the still warm porcelain of her coffee mug. “I just don’t get it.”
“Sometimes men just feel the need to act like jackasses, dear. You’ll only hurt yourself trying to rationalize their asinine behavior.”
She had no energy to fuel her anger, because deep down she was more hurt than anything else. Her mind kept replaying the look of mortification on Rhett’s face. He left her there. Told her to leave.
As much as she found it unacceptable that her father had burst into the mansion, fists swinging and ready to fight, she found it equally unacceptable that Rhett hadn’t fought harder for her. Now, she supposed he was fighting—texting and begging for a chance to talk—but she believed actions spoke louder than words and she couldn’t get over the look on his face when he left her standing on the steps facing everyone alone.
She couldn’t deal with a man who would run from confrontation or sticky emotions. Love was bound to get messy. If he couldn’t handle that…
She swallowed, afraid to admit that Rhett might never open up to her the way she wanted. The love she dreamed of… It should be boundless, obsessive, and intrusive in every way. The McCullough in her demanded such a love and she wasn’t sure she could settle for less.
She hadn’t been there for the fight, only the aftermath. But then, when she heard the commotion and rushed to the stairs to see what was the matter, Rhett just stared at her and gave up. Defeated.
The stares of all the guests burned into her. Her father behaved like an out-of-hand mob goon in a bad movie. And Rhett left her there.
She was used to her family acting nuts, but accustomed to their antics taking place in private. She’d never been so embarrassed in all her life.
She suddenly broke into tears. “Everything’s falling apart.”
“No, honey, this is just the mess God makes before a masterpiece. Gotta break some eggs to bake a cake. Things will get better. You have to be patient.” Gran pulled her into a hug and cocooned her in warm, maternal support.
“It’s not just what Daddy did or everything with Rhett. It’s school.” She sniffled and wiped her nose on the back of her hand, careless of her appearance at this point.
“What about school? Are you struggling?”
“I wasn’t. I did all the work and never missed a deadline. But somehow, I overlooked a page of an exam and flunked a test. The professor emailed me with a chance to retake it, but I missed the email and lost my chance. There’s nothing I can do at this point. Even if I got straight A’s in everything else, it wouldn’t be enough to bring up my grade. I’m going to have to take a withdraw-fail from the course or it will seriously damage my GPA.”
“Oh, honey.” She kissed her head and stroked a calming hand down her hair. “Accidents happen.”
“I’m always so on top of everything. I don’t understand how I got here.”
“Sometimes, dear, life just kicks us in the balls for no reason.”
She laughed, wiping her nose when snot came out. “I don’t have balls.”
“And it’s a good thing, too. Who wants to walk around with all that nonsense?” Gran handed her a napkin. “Blow your nose, love. You’re dripping.”
Skylar mopped up her face and drew in a calming breath. Gran went to the cabinet under the sink and returned with a bottle of whiskey. She topped off Skylar’s coffee and gave her a commanding nod to take a sip. Skylar didn’t argue and brought the mug to her mouth.
“Do you want my advice?”
She nodded, her coffee slipping down with a calming burn.
“I think your heart’s a little bruised over this man, which makes sense, since he’s the first you’ve ever given your heart to. They’re all clumsy, and I’m afraid it never gets easier, no matter how many times they screw up and we try to teach them better. But, if you care for this man and actually want to make things work with him, you have to talk to him. Good relationships come from good communication. Believe me. I know. Don’t hold parts of yourself back, Skylar. Show him the good, the bad, and the ugly. You have to be real with each other if you want a real love. And, trust me, you’re too genuine for an artificial relationship. So what if he screwed up the other night? You’ll make mistakes too. We all fumble. Luckily, the heart’s a difficult thing to fully break.”