by Liz Isaacson
But hey, his parents had definitely heard that. He glanced over his shoulder to where they’d been sitting, and his mother stood up now, shading her eyes with her hand, as if her cowgirl hat didn’t do a good enough job.
For some reason, her stance annoyed Todd. He signed his name a little harder on the next program, and then he said, “Sorry, guys. I gotta be done.” He handed the marker to the next person in line and started through the crowd.
Miraculously, they let him through, and their attention was quickly taken when the next bull rider hit the eight-second bell and was scored an eighty-six.
“Eighty-six,” Todd said under his breath, ignoring all the side glances he got. Taylor would have a hard time beating that, and Todd wondered if that would put his standing in jeopardy.
He couldn’t believe how quickly he’d slipped right back into the rodeo life, the typical rodeo worries. He didn’t have to wait for his parents, but he did have to wait for Taylor to do his ride. He made the bell too, and was scored an eighty-five.
“When did the scores get so high?” he asked his dad once they came out of the stands.
He didn’t answer, but simply grinned and pounded Todd on the back as if they’d seen each other every day for the past nine months. “How’s the leg?” He looked at the cast.
Todd didn’t want to get into it, so he just said, “Great. Hey, Mom.” He gave her a quick hug and looked at his parents.
No words came. He had no idea what he needed to say to them. “How’s Taylor doing?”
“What are you doing here?” she asked instead of answering his question.
“I came to….” Todd swallowed, trying to find the right thing to say. He said a quick prayer that he could find the closure he needed. Because Graham was right about one thing—Todd needed to figure it out and fix it.
Whatever “it” was.
“I came to say I forgive you,” he said, looking his mother in the eye, and then his father. A peaceful, right feeling draped over him, and he couldn’t help smiling. “Yeah. That’s what I came to do.”
“What’s he talkin’ about, Sharon?” his dad asked, but Todd was already nodding and turning to go. It didn’t matter what his mother told his father. It didn’t matter that they didn’t know why they needed to be forgiven.
The act of forgiving was for the person doing it, and Todd felt lighter than ever as he hobbled away from his parents. No, they didn’t follow him, or ask any more questions. But it didn’t matter. He’d come here to do what he needed to do, and Todd was glad he’d made the trip for a three-minute conversation with his parents.
Because forgiving felt great, and it lessened the darkness inside him.
Chapter Eighteen
Vi let her sister talk and talk and talk on the way home from the airport. She didn’t have much to add to the conversation, and Rose honestly didn’t seem to mind that all Vi said was “Really?” and “Hmm.”
Everyone knew she’d broken up with Todd. After all, they wanted to know why she was suddenly so keen to come home for her birthday when she’d resisted before. And Lily had driven her to the airport while she cried, so Vi couldn’t really hide it.
She didn’t want to hide it. She’d always been close with her family, and her months alone in Coral Canyon had been challenging in a lot of ways.
Rose pulled up to the gate in front of Vi’s house and typed in the code. Vi glared at the fence as it rumbled open, thinking her life here was leagues away from what she’d had in Coral Canyon—and she liked that life better.
She liked the normalcy of the street where she lived. She liked her neighbors and the cookies they brought. She liked that she was famous but not untouchable.
Rose drove through the gate, and Vi felt removed from the world again. She’d lived like that for so long, having become a country music star in her teens, that she’d thought that was her normal. But she knew now that it wasn’t.
Three other cars were parked in her driveway, and she said, “Rose,” in a warning voice.
“Oh, it’s just Mom and Dad and a few friends.”
A few friends. “A few friends I haven’t really kept in touch with,” Vi said, unrest starting beneath her pulse.
“Well, now you can.” Rose put the car in park and threw her sister a bright smile. So bright that Vi knew it was a lot more than a few friends.
“And Jane’s here, and you’re obviously friends with her.”
Vi squirmed in her seat. “I’ve told her I’m coming back.” She eyed the front door. “I don’t want to go in there.”
“They’re expecting you.” Rose pouted, and Vi hated that face. As the youngest sister, Rose had learned from an early age how to get what she wanted.
“Why couldn’t I have just come back to my place in peace?” she asked, feeling some of the darkness Todd carried with him vibrate through her. She eyed the fall wreath on the door, wondering who had hung that. Didn’t feel like something Jane would do, so it was probably Vi’s mother, who had wreaths and ornaments and lights for every month of the year.
Rose laughed as she got out of the car. “We’re Everetts. There is no peace.” She closed the door, shutting Vi inside with the silence. She sat there for as long as she dared, absorbing it and praying that she could be kind and cordial, and then make a quick escape.
When Rose started glaring and gesturing wildly, Vi sighed and got out of the car too. She climbed the steps to the double-wide front door, almost embarrassed at this opulent mansion she owned. How had she ever loved this house?
Her sister opened the door and led the way inside. The chatter and music met Vi’s ears before she’d even crossed the threshold, and her first instinct was to continue forward and right up the steps to the second floor. To the right was her master suite, and surely she could be alone to cry a few more tears for Todd there.
But instead, she straightened her back and pushed against her emotions. There would be no more crying over Todd. She’d already made that vow to herself at the airport in Jackson Hole, with Lily at her side.
Lily had wiped her tears and told her to have fun in Nashville, that she and Beau would come for Vi’s birthday.
She followed Rose into the library—well, it was supposed to be a library. Vi had used it as more of a music room, and that was where the party was. She was right—it was a lot more than a few friends. Dozens of people filled the room, held delicate glasses of sparkling cider, and mingled as the Everett Sisters music played in the background.
“Violet.”
She turned toward her mother’s voice, instantly knowing she was going to lose her battle against the tears. Her mom wrapped her in a tight hug, and sure enough Vi started crying as she gripped her mother’s bony body in return.
“Oh, sweetheart, it’s so good to see you.” Her mom patted her back and rubbed her shoulders, and Vi just wanted to curl up with her, a mug of hot chocolate with plenty of mini marshmallows, and try to figure out how to get Todd back into her life.
At the same time, she didn’t want Todd. At least not the man he currently was. But she’d seen glimpses of the man he could be, who he was trying to be, and she desperately missed the man who confided his secrets to her, who held her close and made her feel like the most beautiful woman in the world, who faced the world with determination instead of depression.
Her mom passed her to her father, who also held her as if she’d been gone for decades instead of a handful of months. “Come see what we got you for your birthday.” He took her hand and led her out of the library, thankfully. Vi would’ve gone almost anywhere to escape the party, and relief spread through her when it was just her and her parents in the room adjacent to the library—a study Vi rarely used. After all, she didn’t need to sit at a desk and keep accounts or anything.
Sometimes, when her manager came for meetings, they used this room. Otherwise, it generally sat empty. In fact, the whole house had an unused quality about it despite Jane living here, and Vi had the thought that she should sell it.
On the desk sat a wrapped package. It was about the size of a shoe box, and the paper was sparkly and pink, just the way Vi liked.
“What is this?” she asked, approaching it. Her mother knew better than to actually buy her a pair of shoes, and when Vi picked up the box, it weighed almost nothing. She cut a glance at her mom and dad, but they simply stood there smiling at her.
They held hands too, and Vi couldn’t help but notice. Her heart shriveled a little bit more in her chest. She wanted the kind of love her parents had always shared, and a fresh lump of emotion pressed against her vocal chords.
So she didn’t speak. She tore the paper off the box and found that it was indeed a shoe box. She lifted the lid to find several slips of paper inside. “What are these?” She couldn’t read fast enough to make sense of the words. Finally, her brain clicked. “Tickets?” She looked at her parents for confirmation.
“We’re taking an Alaskan cruise at the end of the month, and we got you tickets to come with us.” Her mother beamed at her.
“You’ve always wanted to do that.” Vi ran her fingers down the side of the tickets. “There are four tickets here.”
“Two are for Beau and Lily,” her dad said.
“And the other was for—” Her mom cut off and shifted her feet closer to her dad as she spoke.
“Todd,” Vi supplied. “His name was Todd.” She set the tickets back in the box. “Thank you. I’d love to come.” She put on her best smile, but all the things she’d hoped to do with Todd one day streamed through her mind on repeat. Get married. Have kids. Go on cruises. Travel the world. Raise and train dogs. Go out on the lake in a boat. Hike the Tetons.
She closed her eyes, wishing the fantasies would just stop. Because that was all they were: fantasies.
“Rose has a new boyfriend,” her dad said. “Maybe she can use the extra ticket.”
“Sure,” Vi said, not caring who came on the cruise. She wouldn’t get to lay on the deck and sunbathe, but she could certainly eat her way through a cruise buffet about now.
“I’ll go ask her,” he said, stepping toward the doorway that led into the library.
Her mom came forward and said, “Vi, you’ve lost so much weight. Are you okay?”
Vi looked into her mother’s eyes, so bright and blue like hers. “Thank you,” she said. “No one seems to notice I’ve lost any weight at all.”
“Are you kidding?” She grasped her shoulders and looked down Vi’s body and back. “I’m guessing at least twenty pounds.”
“Twenty-three,” Vi said with a smile that stretched her mouth all wrong. “Oh, Mom, why can’t I find someone to spend my life with?” Tears splashed her cheeks, and her mind whispered that she had. That Todd was the man she was meant to be with.
And she’d never felt like that about anyone else before.
“I loved him,” she whispered as her mom held her close again.
“I’m so sorry, sweetheart.” Her mom’s voice was choked too. “I’m so sorry.”
Hours turned into days, and days into weeks, and it was finally time for the Everetts to embark on their cruise. Vi had filled her time by shopping for swimming suits—and a new house. She didn’t want to live behind high hedges and guarded gates anymore.
And she didn’t want to be alone. So she’d been going to the animal shelter every day to find a dog to adopt. She hadn’t found a permanent pet, but she’d learned the shelter needed people to take dogs for a few days at a time, because they didn’t have enough room in their shelter. They called it their Doggy Daycare program, and she’d signed up a four-hour class the moment she heard of it. After her morning learning how to work with nervous, aggressive, and mistreated dogs, she’d taken home a mixed breed dog named Priscilla.
The dog stayed with her for three days and nights before a spot opened up for her at the shelter. And within another couple of days, Priscilla had found a new home.
Vi felt very much like the dogs she brought home from the shelter—a bit worn down, a bit underfed, a bit neglected.
Todd had not called or texted once, and Vi had really not been expecting that. He’d always rebounded from his foul moods quickly in the past, and she wondered where he was and what he was doing.
She thought of Jetstream every time she heard a dog bark, and as she pulled up to the shelter, her heart felt weighed down with cement. “Come on, Cougar.” The little pug perched on the edge of the seat, not quite brave enough to jump down.
So Vi scooped the dog into her arms and set him on the ground. “Let’s go. There’s a family coming to get you tomorrow.” She grinned as Cougar trotted over to the door. Vi opened it for him and went inside the back of the shelter.
“Cougar’s back,” she said to Mark, the man who ran the Doggy Daycare program. “And I bathed him last night, so he’s all ready.”
He grinned at her, his beard reminding her of Todd’s. Another lashing of sadness hit her, and Vi almost recoiled physically from it. “You’re leaving today, right?” he asked.
“Yep. My flight is this afternoon.” Vi had been mostly packed for a few days now. “Just have to throw my toiletries in.”
“Too bad,” he said, pointing to a dog Vi had never seen before. “We just got this Westie in, and he needs a warm bed for a few nights.”
Vi dropped into a crouch and held her hands out to the little white dog that looked more like an ottoman than an animal. “Oh, look at you.” She rubbed the dog’s back, feeling grime and dirt under her hands. “Where did you come from, huh? What’s your name?”
“We’re going with Winston,” Mark said. “Ally is going to take him.”
“I hate Ally right now,” Vi said, wishing she could take the pup with her on her cruise.
Mark laughed, and Vi joined him, glad the easy conversation had driven away some of her melancholy mood. She straightened and walked over to the sink to wash her hands. “So I’ll be back in a couple of weeks.”
“Just text me. I’m sure we’ll have someone for you to take.”
Vi slipped out the back. She packed her toothbrush and her hairspray and went out front to catch the ride her mom had arranged for her. She met everyone at the airport, and it was one big happy Everett family.
Lily hugged her, more of a baby bump now than even a few weeks ago. “Happy birthday,” she said.
“Oh, it’s days old,” Vi said. She hated that she was thirty-nine now. But Lily was older than her, and she was carrying a baby. So maybe there was still hope for Vi—if she met a man today. Or yesterday.
Or last spring.
Vi shoved the thoughts out of her head as she sat between her sisters. Rose had not brought her boyfriend, claiming family cruises should be for significant others that were actually “significant” and Packer wasn’t.
That had spurred a whole conversation between Vi, Rose, and their mother, and Rose had ended up breaking up with Packer the next day. Vi still wasn’t sure why, but Rose had said something about the way Vi had spoken about knowing if a man was “the one” or not.
Vi honestly couldn’t even remember saying anything. But it didn’t matter. Rose said she didn’t want to waste any more time dating around, and Vi knew exactly what she meant.
Of course, Vi had always fallen faster than her sisters, which was why her heart bore more scars than either of theirs. She put in her earbuds and turned up the music as loud as she could stand. Maybe then she wouldn’t have room to think about Todd, and how he was the one for her and she’d ended it with him because he was in a bad mood.
It was more than that and you know it, she told herself.
And it was. And she did know it. But maybe some rock music could drown everything out.
Chapter Nineteen
“The fracture is really gone?” he asked, studying the x-ray film as if he was the one who’d spent years in medical school. “You’re sure?” He could not come back here in a week, or even a month, and get another cast. He simply could not.
He’d made some great pr
ogress over the last month. He’d forgiven his parents. He’d gone by the old farmhouse where he’d grown up. He hadn’t gone in, but as he stood on the road where Vi had parked months ago, he’d realized he didn’t need to go inside.
He was completely sure the Lord had directed him back to Coral Canyon, and he loved his cabin in the woods. Jetstream could sit, and stay, and shake, and give high five now. He loved to launch himself off the dock in pursuit of a ball, and Todd was thinking of entering him into some agility contests.
But Coral Canyon didn’t have anything like that, especially in the winter, which seemed to be arriving early though it was barely mid-September. The Grand Tetons had snow on their peaks already, and Todd was looking forward to winter activities with his dog.
And Vi.
If he could get all the way better, he could fly to Nashville and get Vi back.
Figure it out.
He’d been figuring things out. He’d been going to church every week and Bible study on Wednesday’s too. He’d met with a professional counselor a handful of times to talk about the things inside his head.
Fix it.
He’d been trying. He’d stayed off his leg to fix it. He’d been searching for all the darkness inside himself and rooting it out a little bit at a time. He felt better than he had in years.
Apologize.
That was the next thing on his list—if his leg was really healed.
“I’m sure,” Doctor Sett said. “You can wear the brace if you start to notice any pain. But it looks really good.” He turned from the wall and looked at Todd. “I think we got it this time.”
Happiness burst through Todd, and he stood from the bed where he’d been sitting while the x-ray was read. He shook the doctor’s hand and said, “Thanks, Doc. So I’m cleared for snowshoeing?”
“Sure, sure. Just don’t go getting thrown by any horses.”
Todd paused as if he’d been hit with ice water, then the laughter filled his chest and boomed from his mouth. “All right,” he said, still chuckling. “I’ll try.”
