It Had to Be You by Kay Lyons

Author:Kay Lyons
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Kindred Spirits Publishing

* * *

ANOTHER WEEK closer to summer vacation.

That was Jonas’s first thought when he made his way into the house. A handful of bills awaited him on the hall table, but it was the muted sound of comfortable soles that had him turning to face Marilyn—and wish he’d put in some overtime. Not again.

“Have you come to a decision?”

One look at her face told him the conversation wouldn’t go well. “Two weeks, Marilyn. That’s all she’ll stay this summer.”

Marilyn put her hands on her hips, an exasperated expression on her face. “You’re making a mistake, Jonas. She came home in a horrible mood and talked back again! She ignored my requests to spend time with me and went straight to her room to get on the computer. I drive all this way and she wants to study? It’s Friday!”

Jonas glanced down the hall and noted his daughter’s door was cracked open, her five-foot shadow blocking the light of the lower half. He stepped forward and tugged Marilyn with him into the kitchen. Once there Jonas released her and turned to stare out the window over the sink.

“Jonas, I know the thought of letting Caroline go can’t be easy, but we both know it would be for the best. Your schedule is atrocious and Caroline’s attitude is a reflection of that. She needs stability.”

“By changing yet another aspect of her life?” His hands gripped the counter tight. “I’ve already told her she doesn’t have to spend the summer, and I’m not going to be pushed by you into changing my decision.”

“Well…if that’s how you— I—I’m not feeling very well today,” she said abruptly. “So I—I think I’ll let you and Caroline handle things here this week. I wouldn’t want—” she sniffled loudly “—I wouldn’t want to stay and—and upset either of you.”

Jonas’s knuckles turned white, and even though he knew she waited for him to protest, to make it up to her the way he and Carly always did, he refused to feel guilty. The time had come.

“I’ll just go…gather up my things.”

“Marilyn?”

“Yes?”

Her tone was so eager, so needy, he cringed. “Give Dave my best and tell him when he gets some time off to come by and I’ll take him to that fishing spot I told him about out at the Second Chance.”

“That’s all you have to say?”

He didn’t turn. “You expected something else?”

She harrumphed. “You just wait, Jonas. You’ll come to your senses when Caroline continues to misbehave. Until then, maybe it would be best if I stayed away. You’ll see you’re not handling her and things here as well as you seem to think. You’ll see you can’t.”

Again she waited. He didn’t move, didn’t protest or make any attempts to apologize. Finally Marilyn gave up and grabbed her purse and keys from the table, the time it took her to walk to the front door three times the norm. Jonas stayed where he was until he heard her car start and drive away.

Taking a deep breath, he walked down the hall to Carly’s room.

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