Zari Davis flees Dallas after witnessing her fiancee cheating, with no clear plan on where she's going. After flipping her Volkswagon Beetle, she wakes up convinced that the cute guy that's been reading raunchy novels aloud while she slept is actual...
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P L A Y L I S T
Dinner & Diatribes - Hozier
Gabriel gripped the steering wheel so tight he thought he might break his knuckles, but his eyes never left the darkening road. Street lamps were rare on the back roads. "What do you mean she went to Dallas with Zari? Are you crazy? You know she'll see Owen! He'll probably get her into bed. Is that what you want?"
Mom stared at him for a long moment. How could she be so calm? And how could Zari, knowing how Gabriel felt about Owen, do this and not say anything? God, this pissed him off.
"Mom?"
She put a hand on her hip and fixed him with a look, like Really? "I'm just giving you a second to get control of yourself."
He rubbed rigid tendons on the back of his neck and clenched his jaw. Control? Hell, it seemed he had none of that where his family was concerned. "I can't believe this. Zari, Silbie, and you all know I don't want them together, yet went out of your way to keep it a secret. Why did you agree to this? You did agree, right?" He pinched the bridge of his nose, exasperated.
Dawn crossed her legs and pulled her cardigan tighter. "Yes."
"Why?"
She raised her eyebrow at him. "Because she would have gone anyway."
"You don't know that. She's never disobeyed you."
"She's never been in love before."
He groaned. "And she isn't now. Just thinks she is."
"Oh, Gabe. You have a lot to learn about children. Especially teenage girls." Mom took a deep breath, then faced him. Lights from the streetlamps flickered through the window casting shadows across her face like a silent movie reel. "As a parent, you have to pick your battles. This one was not worth fighting because it wasn't winnable."
"Yes, it was. Zari would have never let her go without your approval. I know that."
"You're right. But Silbie's eighteen. She has her own car. And she wanted to see him before he left. Take my word. I was her age once. Nothing was going to prevent that," she paused long enough to catch her breath before plowing on. "After two rounds of rehab, how many times did I tell you to cut Rosie loose? How she was never going to get better. How she was just breaking your heart over and over. Did you listen?"
He hung his head. She had him there. And he'd wished a thousand times he'd taken her advice, but hadn't, and everything she'd predicted came true. "No. And I regret it."
"Well, there you have it. Real or imagined, Silbie loves him, and only time will decide which it is. Not you. Not me. I had to ask myself if it was worth alienating her, and it wasn't. If she were sixteen, then yes, but not with her about to be on her own. I can't have her leave with resentment. Kids make bad decisions when they're trying to get even with their parents. Your grandmother tried her damndest to keep me away from your father, and that only made me want him more, and go around her back. We didn't talk for over a year. I don't regret my time with him because he gave me you, but if I hadn't gotten pregnant with you, I might still be on the drugs he got me hooked on. Owen is a hell of a lot better than Terry ever was, and Silbie's eighteen. We just have to trust that we raised her right."
