Page 43 of Objection to Love
Garrett was quiet for a minute, and Em worried she’d offended him or crossed a line. But then he started talking as if he had needed to say the words for a while.
His eyes cut to hers. “How long do you have? I like talking about him.”
“I don’t know… How long until we get where we’re going?” she prodded.
He shook his head with a small smile. “My dad was… the best.”
Em waited for him to continue. He was drumming his fingers on the steering wheel, seeming to decide where to start the story or what to share. Finally, his fingers stilled.
“He always came to my little league games, was at every high school event, took mom out every Friday night. Helped me with my science homework—he was terrible at math, though. Mom had to help me with that. What were your parents like?”
“Oh, they…” Em faltered. “They helped me with my homework too.” Or, they did when they had time.
He raised an eyebrow. Em offered a tight smile. “Your dad sounds awesome.”
“Like I said… he was the best.” He paused as if he wanted to say more but wasn’t sure about it. Em didn’t say anything, letting him choose how much to share—heaven knew she wasn’t a big sharer when it came to personal things. But suddenly she wanted to know Garrett better. Know more about where he came from. What made him tick. The deep stuff.
Crap.
He made his decision before she could backtrack. “He worked too hard. Even though he took all that time for us, even though we knew how much he cared about us, any moment not spent with us, he was working. He came from a pretty humble background and was determined to change that for Mom and me. And he did. We had a great life, but at what cost? He was always tired. So tired. I just wish he would have slowed down a bit and taken more time for himself, you know? Then, maybe, we’d still have him.”
He didn’t look at Em, just continued staring out at the road. But Em could feel the pain that was still there. She traced the lines of his clenched jaw with her eyes, and her heart ached for him—a hollow, helpless ache. She understood now why he was so focused on finding joy in his life. Why he was forcing her to do the same. Why he sometimes appeared lazy. He wasn’t lazy at all; he was prioritizing.
He cleared his throat and tightened then loosened his hands at the wheel. “Anyway. He was a great man.”
“I bet he’d be proud of you.”
“I hope so.”
It was quiet a little longer before he spoke again. “Tell me more about your family.”
“Oh.” Em shifted in her seat. “There’s not much to tell. There’s just me and April, and our parents.”
“What’s April like?”
“You’ve met her. Kinda.”
“Oh, yeah, she ogled me. Like you did when we first met.” He waggled his brows, and Em laughed.
“I did not. Anyway, she’s like me. But shorter and with a bigger heart.”
He shot her an inquisitive look but didn’t say anything.
“She’s pregnant, you know. Due in December.”
“Does she know if she’s having a boy or girl?”
“Not yet. I think she finds out in a couple weeks.”
“Fun.” He turned off the highway onto a side road lined with pine trees. “And your parents?”
“Big-shot lawyers in Denver.”
“Ah, so that’s what made you want to be a lawyer?” Garrett asked.
“Mostly.”
He looked over at her but luckily didn’t make her elaborate. She didn’t really feel like telling him how, as a kid, she’d dreamt of becoming a lawyer to gain her parents’ notice and admiration. And how now that she was a lawyer, she felt like even more of a failure to them than anything. She hadn’t gone into business law; she didn’t want to take over the family practice; she would never “make money” as a prosecutor. All things her parents thought she fell short on.
