Laura felt miserable. “I want him,” she said. “But I can’t have him and keep control of my life. I would be signing myself away to another man.”
Jeanette made a face. “I don’t think Daryl is anything like Clark.”
“I never said that,” Laura said, defensive. “It’s just that I need to be on my own; I need to show Lily that she never needs to rely on anyone for anything.”
Jeanette’s judgmental expression didn’t budge. Laura was a little surprised that the lawyer was disagreeing with her. For as long as Laura had known her, Jeanette had been her role model of what an independent woman could be. Jeanette was a powerhouse: she had a career and a family, and although she had a husband, she didn’tneedhim in the way Laura used to need Clark. She wasn’t dependent on him. Laura wanted to model that self-sufficiency for Lily as she grew up. “Why don’t I get you some coffee?” Jeanette asked. “Then, we can come back and try to deal with all of this.”This feels like a banana split moment, Laura thought, but she nodded and allowed herself to be turned around and pointed to Jeanette’s car.
TWENTY-TWO
Laura wasn’t at the house when Daryl pulled up. There wasn’t anyone there, actually, which wasn’t a huge surprise. She told him that she’d hired a contractor to finish up the renovations, but they were still in the initial stages—making up plans for what needed to happen and ordering all the necessary materials. From what Laura had said, it sounded like it would be at least another week before the work crews showed up.
Another week that she’d be staying at the ranch. It wasn’t much, but he was holding on to every day he could get. She wasn’t sleeping in his room anymore, but the fact that she hadn’t actually moved out yet still gave him a modicum of hope that she might want to stay.
Daryl wanted her to stay, but they were in limbo. Ever since the day of the hearing, their relationship had been very…polite. Almost formal, like they were strangers who happened to live in the same house. He’d practically had to insist today that she let him come over to remove the baseboards. They’d planned two weeks ago that this would be the day he’d tackle that task. It had been the best opening in his schedule to really take a day and tackle the project. Laura had tried to argue that it wasn’t necessary, that she could get the contractor and his crew to take care of that, but Daryl had made a commitment, and he wasn’t going to blow it off. He needed to prove—more to himself than to Laura—that when he gave his word, he’d keep it. So here he was.
And here Laura wasn’t. Was she avoiding him? Just the thought of it made his stomach sink. He decided to focus on the work to keep himself distracted. He grabbed the hammer and prybar from his truck and got started.
He began in the living room: he’d force the prybar between the wall and the molding with the hammer and then use his own weight to help him lever the molding off. The first few pieces hung on valiantly, but once he got a few up, the molding seemed to have sensed its own demise and began popping off without much effort from him at all. Seeing the molding flying off the walls was weirdly satisfying, giving him an energy that he didn’t know he possessed, and he moved more and more quickly. He finished the living room in less than an hour, and then he moved into the kitchen, which only took him twenty minutes. He moved on to the next room from there. He’d just finished up in Lily’s room when he heard her come through the door. “Daryl?” she called out. “Where are you?”
Laura appeared in Lily’s doorway, eyes wide, with a dozing Lily in her arms. “Just getting rid of the baseboards and crown molding, like we discussed,” he explained.
“What have you done?” Her voice was choked, like her throat was being squeezed shut.
Daryl looked at the progress he’d made. Surely, she couldn’t be mad at him about this. He wasn’t overstepping—they’dagreedthat he’d do this. Yeah, she’d tried to change his mind, telling him that the contractors could handle it, but he’d talked her around in the end. This wasn’t like the roof—he hadn’t just stepped in and assumed. He’d talked about it with her first and they’d come to an agreement. He’d done it right this time…hadn’t he?
God, please say he’d gotten this right. He’d spent the past week dealing with a grumpy brother, an irritated sister, and a frosty wife, all of which had him going around feeling like he did nothing but screw things up. He was exhausted from running around trying to handle his orders and all the ranch workandnurse Kyleandhelp out Laura. He needed to know that he’d finally done something right.
* * *
Laura was going to come out of her skin. She’d felt anger before—she was sure of it—but nothing to this magnitude. She balled her hands into fists. “There was one part of this house that I asked not be changed. You promised.”
Daryl looked confused for a moment, but then it seemed to click. He looked down at all of the broken pieces of trim all around them. “I got so caught up I forgot all about your growth chart.” He dropped the hammer and prybar. “I am so sorry, Laura Jo.”
His apology did nothing to abate her anger. She was positively shaking with it, and Lily clutched her a little tighter, as if she sensed her mother’s distress. “That growth chart was one of the few memories that I have perfect clarity about,” Laura said. “My parents would make a big deal out of those little milestones; my father practically bounced up and down on ‘growth chart’ days, and you destroyed it.”
Daryl looked contrite. “It was an accident. I wasn’t even looking when I pulled everything up. I just wanted to get it done for you.”
“Why did you need to?” Laura’s voice pitched upward; it was almost a shock to her system that she could be loud. “It’s like I told you this morning—the contractor and his crew could handle this. I don’t need you here.”
He flinched as if he’d been struck. “I thought I was just doing what we’d agreed to,” he said, and she could hear the strain in his voice as he tried to stay calm. “I was trying tokeepmy promise to you.”
He seemed so sincere, but she didn’t quite believe him. “But in keeping this one promise, you broke another one to me. One that was much more important. I trusted you, and you let me down.”
Daryl swallowed this information; he struggled with it. Laura knew that if this were any other argument, she would have felt bad or guilty for saying the words that she knew would hurt him the most, but the bitter anger she felt blocked out everything out. “I know the growth chart meant a lot to you, and I’m truly sorry that I took it down,” he told her.
“Well, being sorry doesn’t fix anything, does it?” she spat back. “Not when you’ve wrecked everything.”
“I’mthe one who wrecked everything? Really?” Daryl shot back, anger starting to work into his voice now. “Be honest, now. This isn’t just about a piece of wood. You’re using any little thing to blow this up.”
“Whatthis?” Laura demanded.
He just shook his head, his jaw tight and his eyes blazing. “You know what I’m talking about, Laura Jo,” he said. “Please, don’t insult my intelligence by pretending otherwise. You’ve been pulling away from me ever since the day of the hearing.”
You’re the one who told your sister that it was nothing, she thought, but the words, however accusatory, got stuck in her throat. “Whatever we think we feel about each other,” she said, not willing to concede, “doesn’t matter now.”
“Why not? Because I made a mistake? Or because you decided to be done with me and this gives you a good excuse?”
She shook her head. “Because I can’t trust you to do things the way thatIwant them when you’re so focused on doing whatyouthink is right.”
