Chapter 5
The next few days went by in a blur and it was like Scott was reminded of Lisa in everything that he did. When he had a good day, he missed being able to tell her about it. When he was having a really bad day, he would always go to Lisa’s house and they would talk about things. She had a way about her that relaxed him and that was the worst part of it. Scott missed his friend. He started to wonder if that was how it was going to be from then on. Was he only going to be worried about her or could he in fact move on?
As the weekend rolled around and Elna came down from the city, Scott found himself unable to be around them all. There was a family dinner that night, one that he was expected to attend, but in the end, he didn’t want to go. It wasn’t like he could blame them for all of it, but Scott felt like if it wasn’t for all of the external pressure, him and Lisa would still be together.
They had been happy how it was, or he had been anyways and all he wanted was Lisa back. The idea of having to go into the ranch house and explain himself or explain why she wasn’t there was too much to think about. He hadn’t told anyone what had happened. It was almost embarrassing to him and he didn’t want to talk about it. He didn’t want people to tell him that it would be okay, that he would find someone else. Scott didn’t want to be okay and the longer he was without her, the more that he realized he wasn’t ever going to be okay.
There had been several times throughout the week that he had picked up the phone, even dialed her number, only to hang up again before he pushed send. What would he even say to her if she did answer? Scott wasn’t so sure that she would answer for him and instead of finding out if she would or not, he wallowed in his own sadness for a while. It was all he could do.
When his phone rang suddenly, there was the moment of hope that it would be her, but he should have known better. Why would she call him after he had hurt her? Instead it was Gemma, not his favorite person at the present moment.
“What Gemma?”
“Well hello to you too. Are you coming in for dinner?”
“I don’t think I am going to make it Gemma.”
“Why?”
“I just don’t feel like being around the family right now.”
There was a silence on the other end. “You need to come by. You can’t stay out there forever and you know how mom is with family dinner on Sundays.”
He didn’t want to go in, but he knew that he had to. Scott was still mad about how things had turned out with Lisa and he couldn’t help but blame them for it partially. They were just fine until all of the wedding stuff started to go through the family. Lisa and he were happy as they were; now she was gone and he was left thinking of how things used to be.
“I will be in there. It’s not like you guys can do any worse to me now.”
“What is that supposed to mean?”
“You’ve talked to Lisa?”
Another silence. “Yeah she called me a couple of days ago after I called her for almost a week straight. I don’t know what happened between you guys…”
“You and mom. That is what happened. Why couldn’t you guys leave well enough alone?”
Gemma felt bad about everything, but she still held out that it would somehow work out. She kept telling herself that her brother just needed a kick up the backside to get it in his head that he needed to marry her. What she hadn’t expected was for Lisa to go out on a date. She was moving on and Gemma didn’t think that he even knew about it and she was certainly not going to be the one to tell him.
“I’m sorry okay? You know I didn’t want you guys to split up. I wanted you two to be happy.”
“We were.” It hit Scott then how much he had been happy with her and though he had never thought of marriage before, it didn’t mean that he didn’t love her or even that he wanted someone else.
“I got to get off of here. I will be down that way in a while.” He hung up before she could say anything else. He loved his sister and his mother, but he was sick of their meddling because it never turned out well for him.
***
“Did you talk to your brother?”
Gemma nodded, but she wasn’t sure if she wanted to relay any of the information to Elna. “Yes, he will be down in a little while.”
“Did you tell him about how Lisa dated Tony from the feed store?”
She shook her head. “He is pissed at us and I don’t think he is ready to hear that Lisa has moved on. Oh mom, do you think we totally ruined things between them?”
Elna wasn’t sure and she had much of the same fears as her only daughter. While they had been trying to help everything, it seemed like they had made a royal mess of it and neither one of them knew what to do about it. “No, just watch and see Gemma. I told you that it was going to work out. Lisa loves Scott and she isn’t going anywhere. She is just trying to feel something again. And Scott, well maybe he needs to lose her to know how much he loves her. Guys are like that sometimes.”
Gemma wasn’t so sure but her mother had always had a way of pulling the strings when she wanted something to happen. The fact that she was letting it play out that way made Gemma nervous, but she had to trust that she knew what she was doing. “I hope you are right. I hate when Scott is mad at me. He was the only one of us that could stay mad for so long.”
Elna nodded and even though she had her own concerns, she wasn’t going to feed into it. Confidence covered most of her worries. If she was worried, then everyone was. “Why don’t you set the table for me dear? I am sure everything will work out.”
She watched her daughter go into the other room and she hoped her words were right. There was something about Scott and Lisa that had always seemed to be perfect. The very fact that Lisa had waited so long, attested to the fact that they were meant to be together. No one else would have put up with him for so long. Lisa had to love her son and Elna knew that love conquered all in the end.