A Second Chance in the Show Me State - Jessie Gussman Page 0,46

you’re right. And I imagine there’s enough food in there to last us for a week.”

He was still a little angry at the boys. He didn’t like to be forced into stuff. And he didn’t like to have Emerson forced into anything either. There was just as much chance that she would back away, not want to have anything to do with him, as there was that she would come around and soften toward him. No one likes to be forced.

“Boys, you can’t force people to do what you want them to do.”

“I know, Dad. But you and Mom need to talk. And you guys have been avoiding each other.”

Reid couldn’t argue with that. He was just as guilty as Emerson was.

“We want you guys to get back together. We want to have a mom and a dad who live together. And we want to be able to play with each other and live with each other. You shouldn’t take my twin away from me.” Dallas again used that mature voice, the one Reid wasn’t used to hearing from him, except at the end where it almost sounded like he was pleading.

Definitely he and Emerson needed to talk about the twins being able to be together.

“If these are the kinds of things that happen when you two are together, I think we’re pretty smart to keep half the planet between you two.”

“I’m sorry, Dad. I really am. We couldn’t think of anything else to do. We tried to have you guys together in the evening, and even when we’re working, you put Mom in a different vehicle than the one that you’re driving. You guys need to spend some time together and get things straightened out.”

“Sometimes things just won’t get straightened out,” Reid said, not unkindly and not real forcefully either.

“Come on, Dad. All you and Mom need to do is talk to each other and work this out. It’s not like we’re talking nuclear codes. You guys can be big about this, and one of you has to say you’re sorry. Or maybe both of you.”

He was right, and Reid didn’t have any arguments for it. He and Emerson probably could talk this out and come to a mutual understanding and agreement. At least for him, he was willing to give ground, because he knew without a shadow of a doubt that he still loved his wife.

Chapter 14

Emerson could feel frustration coming off Reid in waves. Maybe anger, although he wasn’t typically an angry person.

She felt the same way, except she also kind of thought that maybe the boys had a good idea.

Reid and she already had plans to ignore each other for the rest of the week, with her going to see friends and him continuing harvesting, and if she helped, she’d be doing something other than being with him.

They could probably spend the entire month she was here completely avoiding each other.

During the three weeks before she arrived, and for all the time she’d been here, that uncomfortable, guilty ball of scratchy wire had turned in her stomach at the most inopportune times.

Guilt, because Reid had been the one to break down and ask her to come. She had, of course, but she hadn’t made any moves since then.

She couldn’t sit around and expect him to make the first move on everything.

Maybe this was her opportunity.

She just had to get her nerve up.

“Mom, we put some snacks and a blanket and everything that Grandma thought you guys might need for tonight and maybe all day tomorrow in a pile on the floor. There’s a flashlight in there too, but I didn’t have any extra batteries.” Houston sounded like he might be having second thoughts, and Emerson was pretty sure if they were forceful and insistent on getting out, he would let them. Neither one of their boys were mean.

“Okay, thanks,” she said. Maybe she should be trying harder to make them let them out, but for some reason, this was looking like a better and better idea to her.

It was possible, she supposed, that Reid felt the same way, because he wasn’t insisting on being let out either.

In fact, he’d grown strangely quiet.

“At least now we know what they’ve been talking about and what they’ve been up to all this time,” she said under her breath to him.

He shifted beside her, still holding her hand, and maybe he didn’t even realize it. She kind of thought if he did, he would have let it go.

“Guess that’s a