Adrian’s brow furrows the second that Riley tells them that there’s been a lot happening lately. He wants to say something but he can’t, not yet. Not with Riley still talking around the subject. He knew what she was doing, hell, they both did. It was what they’d done when people had asked them about Jack. Tried to keep her privacy all the while knowing that something was severely wrong with their daughter.
Katrina held Riley’s hand in her own, nodding in understanding. A chuckle left her throat at the scouts honor that was thrown her husband’s way, squeezing Riley’s hand gently. “The station called us. I was in the middle of a class when her boss–well, let’s just say we heard about her outburst. And who she thought she saw. We knew she drank. But we never….” She trailed off, eyes going glossy.
Her husband took over, biting his lip as he tried to figure out what to say. Something Jack clearly had learned from him. “We never thought that she’d developed this habit as a crutch. She never got over Victoria’s death. And we tried to get her to see a counselor but she would just shut down. So we locked up Vic’s room.” He looked at Katrina, sad smile etched on his face. “Until she left. Jack hasn’t been upstairs since she was twenty-one. She can’t even look in the direction of her sister’s room. We’ve got it open now. It’s helped us heal and I hope it can help her do the same.”
He took the chair from the desk and moved it in front of him so he was straddling it as he sat down, arms crossed atop the back. “You need to take care of yourself too. Jack isn’t the only one who has gone through their life with hurt. It would be foolish to think otherwise. We all just deal with our demons differently. And I can only hope that she is treating you kindly throughout her hurdles.”
Katrina nods, brushing a strand of hair behind Riley’s ear before cupping her chin in a motherly way. “You’re such a wonderful light for our daughter. And us. We knew she’d find her way to you. We just didn’t know how long it would take for her to stop lying to herself. And you.”
Riley lets out a breath she didn’t realize she was holding in when she realizes they’re not completely in the dark, in between the nods she’d been motioning whenever needed. That they both know what’s been going on at home. And were well aware of Jack’s feelings about her sister, much more than Riley was. She would understand if they didn’t, if they’d distanced themselves, but no, they knew. And of course they did. They were smart, just like their daughter.
Which certainly made sense. She was just happy that they talked about it so clearly. That’s something she noticed immediately when she met them. Just like Jack, they said what they thought, and they meant what they said. It was something she loved about her girlfriend.
She’s holding onto Katrina’s hand a little tighter, when she looks back from her girlfriend’s dad, and feels something akin to sadness touch her chest at the woman’s maternal touches, and smile. She’d always treated Riley like a daughter, and it always filled her with a mix of sadness, and longing. The first time she’d met her, she’d had to stop herself from asking Jack why she ever moved away.
But now, in their home, after the last few weeks had changed her life completely, she finds herself able to just enjoy the feelings that came with it. The safety, and fondness, and how genuinely kind the woman was to her.
“ I...” Her chest pinches, and she finds herself wanting to step away when she forms her thoughts fully. But she doesn’t. “We both have a lot of hurdles, a lot of things that we have buried. And I’ve tried, for a long time, to take care of myself, and not let it turn into something. But we both have a lot of trouble letting ourselves feel things. We both just, grind through.”
Her eyes had to pull away from Katrina’s, and from Adrian’s, finding the words much too hard to push through clearly, without shaking, while making eye contact. “My mom passed, when I was young. And that’s definitely been my hurdle, my cross to bear. I think it’s made a difference, for me, at least. To have someone who understands the way it feels to lose someone that close to you. I don’t think there is.. anyone, on this planet that could—,” She’s trying to find the words, and they come up short, and she’s forcing herself to look back at her girlfriend’s mother. “She's good for me. She really is. And all this does scare me. I’m not going to lie, and say it doesn’t. But I trust her. I trust that, together, we can untangle all of our messes. All of us.” Her lips quirk with a weak smile, feeling winded.
