Rough Riders: Gone Country Part 58

"Sierra. Don't."

"I can't help it! If you don't move us back to Arizona, I'm moving to France. And not just for the summer."

His heart nearly stopped. "What? How did this go from you spending the summer in France to you living there for the entire school year?"

"Mom's boyfriend is staying there two more years and he bought a house."

"Your mom will be living in Paris two more years?"

Sierra nodded. "Do you think it's fair that I'll hardly get to see my mom at all in the next two years?"

"Moving was her choice," Gavin pointed out.

"For a year. I know the custody agreement gets reviewed after my birthday. So if I tell Mom I want to live with her, you know she'll fight to make that happen."

And Ellen would win for all the reasons Sierra had just given him.

A profound sense of grief choked him. He managed to eke out, "Why are you doing this to me? To hurt me?" He swallowed. "Guess what, it's working."

"Dad, it doesn't have to be like that. Let's just go back to Arizona. Please."

Gavin stared at his child; she was nearly unrecognizable in this state. Beyond stubborn. Almost wild with the need to get her own way. And she always did. He could see everything that he'd ever done for her wasn't enough. It'd never be enough. In that instant he saw her resemblance to Ellen and it made him nauseous. But how much was his responsibility for letting her become this way?

"This discussion is far from over. And don't think for a second you get to make this decision. I do. Don't call your mother. I mean it. And I suggest you steer clear of me until I've had time to think this through."

"But Dad-"

"I mean it, Sierra. You need to back off and leave me the h.e.l.l alone."

Thirty minutes in the shower did nothing to clear his head.

It wasn't yet noon and he needed a stiff drink.

So he poured himself one.

How had he ever thought he'd escape this issue? If someone held a gun to his head and made him answer if Sierra was miserable here, his answer would be no. Living around his family had changed his life. All he'd had in Arizona was his business and his daughter. Looking ahead, in two years Sierra would be in college and he'd be alone. The daily parenting part of his life would be over. That thought had always scared him.

Now when he looked ahead to the future, he didn't see emptiness. He saw Rielle.

He knew Rielle loved him. But how would that change if he walked away? If only for Sierra's sake, if only for two years?

Rielle would feel like his second choice. That no matter what, he'd always put his daughter before her. She deserved better than that.

But how could he, in good conscience, send Sierra off to France? Two weeks with her mother in Arizona had put her right back on the edge of that destructive path. Sierra had taken full advantage of her mother's need to prove that she was young, hip and cool.

If he returned to Arizona, he could monitor his daughter for the next two years. Make sure she was being responsible in all aspects of her life. Sierra could choose the college that best suited her, rather than having limited choices because she p.i.s.sed away two years in another country.

Did he let his daughter go and let her make her own mistakes?

Vi popped into his head. Although she avoided calling his birth a mistake, it was. A mistake that changed the course of her young life.

Would he really have to choose between the stability of his daughter's life and his life with Rielle?

Rielle's arms came around him and he jumped.

"Sorry. I thought you heard me come in."

"No." He sipped his drink.

"You never came back outside."

"Ran into a little problem with Sierra." He grunted. "Scratch that. A huge f.u.c.king problem."

"What's going on?"

"When we moved here last year, in a moment of guilt, much like promising her a car, I told Sierra if she hated it, we'd return to Arizona."

Rielle stiffened behind him. "You told her that?"

"Promised her that, actually."

Her hold tightened on him. "Oh, Gavin."

The words weren't meant to chastise him, but somehow they did. "School is out. Sierra has decided she's had enough of Wyoming and is holding me to my promise...by way of a threat. If I refuse to move back to Arizona, she'll go to France and live with her mother. We revisit the custody agreement this month after Sierra turns seventeen. I know the judge will favor reverting custody to Ellen, given the lack of contact between her and Sierra in the last year. Sierra has a voice in the decision and she will side with her mother."

Rielle was quiet. Too quiet. Then she said, "What are you going to do?"

He drained his whiskey and set aside the empty gla.s.s. "No idea."

She stepped in front of him. "Gavin. Think about this. You're giving Sierra all the power here. She's a sixteen-year-old girl. Can you imagine how difficult she'll be from here on out if you give in to her threat? You're her parent. Not her puppet. She's a child and she's got way too much control."

"She's had control of me since the minute she was born."

"No. She's had your love and support since the minute she was born. There's a big difference."

"I will lose any influence I have over her if I let her move to France. I'll lose her." That caused an acute ache. "I can't imagine her not being in my life every day."

"Then you have made your decision," she stated softly.

"No." He pulled her to him. "I love you. We have a life here. A life I'm happy with. I don't want to lose you either."

"But you will."

That startled him. "I will what? Lose you?"

"Yes. I love you. I'm grateful that you're in my life. But if you decide to go back to Arizona...then this won't work. You can a.s.sure me it's only for two years until she graduates from high school, but you're hoping Sierra goes to ASU. Can you really see yourself leaving Phoenix if she's still living there? What if she picks a college in California? Will you stay in Phoenix the next four years because it's so much closer than Wyoming? If Sierra needs you, you can hop on a plane and be at her side in an hour."

"You really think I'd drop everything to be at her beck and call?"

"Don't you now?"

"That's not fair. You know you're the same way with Rory."

Rielle shook her head.

"You didn't drop everything when she called you last fall, so stressed out about school?"

"That was different. Rory is an adult. She needs me when she has the occasional breakdown, not every day like Sierra still needs you."

"Okay then. Move to Arizona with me. If you love me and you don't need to be in Wyoming because Rory is here. We'll find a place with gardens and you can grow exotic chili peppers. After Sierra graduates, we can return here."

"Move to Arizona? Really, Gavin? How am I supposed to make a living there? You expect me to just walk away from the business I've built the last fifteen years? It's taken me a long time to get to the point that I'm not starving."

"You wouldn't have to work, Ree. You could take a couple of years off. Do things because they interest you, not because you have to."

"I love the way I live my life and how I make my living. You accepted that about me. I wouldn't work this hard if I didn't love it and I know I'd miss it."

"Would you miss me if I wasn't here?"

"Yes."

Gavin touched her cheek. "Can't we start there and find a way to make us work?"

"I don't see how. This is a lose-lose situation for both of us. I won't go to Arizona. And if you don't go, you'll resent me for making you choose."

"So what you're telling me is if I'm willing to compromise for us to be together, that's fine. But when I ask you to compromise, well, no way."

"That's an oversimplified statement," she argued. "Because the move to Arizona wouldn't be based on mutual compromise. The move would be because your daughter threatened you into a decision you didn't want to make."

Was that really how she saw the situation? Sierra throwing a fit and him just giving in?

Wasn't that what was happening?

Rielle retreated. "I love you. I never thought a man like you would ever love me. We've had similar parenting styles with our only children. But I'm telling you...please don't make my mistake. I didn't see myself as anything but a parent to Rory until I met you. You gave me love and worth as a woman-as your woman. It was hard to tell my daughter, who, yes, had me at her beck and call even as an adult, that I deserved a life outside of being her mother. I've embraced it and she didn't like the change but she's accepted it. I didn't have the guts to do that until you came into my life and changed it completely for the better. So don't wait until Sierra is twenty-four to come to the same realization."

Gavin was too stunned to say anything as she walked out and quietly closed the door.

Chapter Thirty-Nine

Rory knew the instant she'd talked to her mom yesterday that something was wrong. Like horribly wrong.

She a.s.sumed that f.u.c.king McKay b.a.s.t.a.r.d had done exactly what she feared-ripped her mom's heart out and run over it with his G.o.dd.a.m.ned Lexus. So she'd been shocked to hear the McKay male wasn't causing the problem, but his precious sp.a.w.n.

At first her stubborn mother stayed true to her decision to exclude Rory from issues in her relationship with Gavin. But she wasn't deterred. She adopted her mother's soothing style of extracting information and her mom finally broke down.

And Rory had broken down too, silently, on the other end of the phone because she grasped her mom's dilemma. If the situations had been reversed and Rory had made those demands? Her mom would've sided with her-seen to her child's needs above her own without question. Even right now when her mom was miserable, she wouldn't fault Gavin if he chose his daughter over her. But hearing her mother cry...Rory wanted to hop in her truck and kick some serious McKay a.s.s-starting with Sierra's.

But she'd promised to cover her co-worker's bar shift last night and she hadn't left for Sundance until early this morning.

Upon arriving home, Rory parked her truck at her cabin and skulked through the trees, avoiding her mom as she made a beeline for the house.

Gavin wasn't around. Good. That might've been awkward, him asking what she was doing there and her answering...I'm here to bust Sierra's b.a.l.l.s.

Rory knocked on Sierra's door, but didn't allow the girl a chance to deny her entrance so she barged right in.

Sierra sat on her bed, earbuds jammed in her ears and the music cranked so loud Rory heard it by the door. Sierra's head was back, her eyes closed. A notebook sat on her lap with words scrawled across the page.

Rory recognized heartbreak when she saw it. Grabbing the footboard, she jostled the bed.

Sierra's eyes flew open. She scrambled out of her slouch, wiped her eyes and pulled out her earbuds. "Rory? What are you doing here?"

"Came to see my mom. She's busy making hay while the sun shines, so I thought I'd grab you and we'd go get ice cream or French fries or something equally junky."

"I'm not really hungry."

"I am. Let's go. You can keep me company while I eat."

"Rory. I'm not dressed, I'm in a s.h.i.tty mood and I just wanna be left alone."

"Tough s.h.i.t and toughen up, little sister." She jostled the bed frame again. "Move it."

Sierra tossed her iPod aside. "What is your problem?"

"You are, Little Miss Mopey Face. You're hunched up in your bed, acting like your pet hamster died and I'm PMS-ing for chocolate and grease. I've never ridden in your fancy-a.s.s new ride, and since I know how much you love love to drive, I'm telling you to get up and chauffer me around, be-yotch." to drive, I'm telling you to get up and chauffer me around, be-yotch."

"You are such a pain in the a.s.s."

"Yeah? What's your point?"

"Fine. Give me a f.u.c.king minute."

Rory chattered about bulls.h.i.t on the way to town. College and bartending and guys that'd been sniffing around. Sierra was occupied with driving so she was only half-listening anyway and didn't suspect a thing.

At Dairy Queen, Rory went inside to order since Sierra refused to go through the drive-thru. An extra-large fry and two gigantic mocha Moo-lattes later, Rory directed Sierra to drive to Flat Top. If she thought it weird two girls were headed to the local make-out spot, she didn't mention it.