Sierra squirmed. “Did she tell you why?”
“Some. That your dad was probably leaving her and here for good.”
“He doesn’t have to,” Sierra protested. “He can stay here with Rielle if he wants.”
“But if he does, you’ll punish him by moving to France with your mother,” Rory pointed out.
“He promised me if I didn’t like it here we could go home.”
What a little shit. So self-righteous and involved in her stupid teenage dramas that she couldn’t see the aftershocks of stamping her foot and demanding her way. Rory had been that girl too. But she’d be damned if she’d stand by and watch it happen. Her mother had put aside her own life for years to make sure Rory’s life was happy. It was time to pay it back.
Rory got right in her face. “You are such a f**king brat, Sierra, I can’t even believe it.”
Sierra reared back, completely floored.
“Your dad has done everything for you, sacrificed any kind of personal life, selflessly put up with his ex-wife because he wouldn’t deny you a relationship with your mother. And now, when he’s finally found happiness, when he’s found a woman he loves and who loves him back, when he’s building relationships with the family he didn’t know he had…you’re gonna pull the f**king rug out from under him? You’re essentially saying, Daddy, your life is solely devoted to seeing that my needs are being fully met, one hundred percent of the time and I don’t give a shit about anything else but getting my own way.”
“That’s not true!”
“That is so f**king true it makes me sick. You wouldn’t think twice about ruining his relationship with my mom. You’d do it, devastating two people, and then it’d be out of sight, out of mind as you flit off and get your damn nails done.”
Sierra leapt to her feet. “Where the f**k do you get off saying that shit to me? You were a total brat to your mom when you found out about her and my dad. You threw a little baby tantrum and stormed off, remember?”
“Yes, I was upset, but not because our parents were together. It was something entirely personal on my part and I had to do a shit ton of soul searching to figure out why I felt that way. And I did. Then I mended the rift in my relationship with my mom. I apologized to her. I asked for her forgiveness. I told her I wanted her to be happy because she deserved it. And I meant it. Oh, and I also apologized to your dad.”
“So I’m just supposed to suck it up and be miserable for the next two f**king years until I can escape this godforsaken place and go to college?”
“Stop blaming the way you feel because you’re hating on Wyoming. I know you were just as miserable in Arizona, no matter how you try to paint the desert with rainbows and butterflies.”
“How do you know?”
“Sierra. You told me.”
“When?”
“You called me late one night in January. Crying about not fitting in anywhere. You said it didn’t matter where you lived, it was always the same.”
Sierra looked away. “I’d been drinking.”
“Probably. But it doesn’t make the things you told me any less true,” she said gently. “And I don’t think moving to France will change anything. Except you’ll be stuck in a foreign country where you don’t speak the language, with no escape. You will have to live with your impulsive, spiteful decision. And I ain’t gonna lie. Part of me hopes you make that choice. A dose of reality would do you good because you don’t understand how good you have it right now.”
Sierra paced, acting as if she was contemplating Rory’s words. “You really think my dad will decide to stay here?”
“I hope so. For my mom’s sake and for his.” Rory watched Sierra, so torn; she knew something else was at play. “What happened in the last couple of days that made you so eager to leave Sundance immediately?”
She bit her lip and studied the ground.
“Were you bullied by girls at school? Verbally harassed or physically assaulted or threatened?”
She shook her head.
An awful thought occurred to her and it wouldn’t go away. “Did a guy touch you in a way you didn’t want to be touched? Or force you? Because if that happened, we can get you help—”
“I wasn’t raped or anything like that.”
“Thank God.” Rory exhaled. “I didn’t want to push you, but I know you’re holding something back and I was really scared that’s what it was.”
“Why?”
“Because, like you reminded me a few months back, there is some stuff we can’t talk about with our parents, no matter how much we should. I suspect you don’t have many people you can talk to if you’re calling me.”
Rory waited for Sierra to speak. When several minutes passed and she stayed mum, she pushed her. “Sierra. What’s really going on? What couldn’t you tell your dad?”
Sierra had closed herself off, wrapping her arms around her upper body. “I have—had—two people I can talk to. Marin. But she’s staying at her grandma’s. The other person I could talk to? He left yesterday morning.”
Sierra had only ever mentioned one guy. “Boone?”
She nodded.
Well that explained a lot. “What happened?”
“He joined the army. We’ve hung out so many times and he never…” She cleared her throat. “Then after he told me he was leaving, he said all these things to me…how he felt about me—which I didn’t know—and he kissed me.”
“And?”
“And he left and it hurts! It pisses me off and I can’t stop crying. I want to leave. I want to put him behind me, put this whole year behind me and start over.”
“But you wouldn’t be starting over if you went back to Arizona,” Rory pointed out. “Do you think you could start over in France?”
She sniffled. “I don’t know. I don’t know anything. I’m so confused.”
Rory let her settle before she spoke. “Can I give you some advice, little sister?”
“I guess.”
“Change yourself, not your location.”
Sierra looked up. “What?”
“You let things happen to you instead of making them happen for you.”
“How do you know?”
“Because I’m the same way. Or I was. You didn’t confront your dad about the stuff that was bugging you last fall. You made me do it. I went through this too, learning to be assertive without changing who you are inside, so listen to me.” Rory tucked a strand of hair behind Sierra’s ear. “You’re a fun, smart, funny and sweet girl—when you’re not being a total brat.”