“Got my phone. I’ll be all right.”
“Wait for me then.” Oscar pulls out his phone and flicks on his flashlight. “Don’t bother. I’d rather be alone,” Stacey yells at him.
Shit.
This isn’t good. Oscar stills, and you can see how lost he is. I reach out and place my hand on his shoulder.
“She’s been through a lot these past couple of days, and she doesn’t mean it. She might need to be alone.” Oscar’s shoulders sag in defeat.
“She’s had a really hard day today, and from what the girls told me about what happened in the lawyer’s office with the will. Give her time. I’m sure she’s got a lot going on in her head, and she’s lashing out at the ones she loves,” Sienna adds.
Oscar nods and follows us back to the deck. I go back inside and grab another beer for him, he gladly takes it.
“I never said I didn’t want to be here,” Oscar tells us.
“We know. You love her,” Sienna says, giving him a sad smile.
“I love her with all my heart. I hate that she is hurting this much, and I can’t help her.”
“Being her rock is what she needs, and sometimes that might mean being her punching bag,” I tell him.
“She can scream and yell at me all she wants, I’m not going anywhere.”
“Look, I don’t think she means to push you away right now. She might be worried that she’s signing you onto something you weren’t wanting to sign up for,” Sienna explains.
“What do you mean?” Oscar asks.
“She’s this family’s guardian. Hunter always assumes she is going back to LA to be with you. Your life is in LA. You don’t really fit out here, now do you?”
“What does that mean?” he asks, sounding hurt.
“You’re a rockstar, not a sheep farmer,” I tell him.
“I don’t want to be a sheep farmer,” he says, looking between us.
“Exactly,” Sienna says.
“I’m not following, guys, please just spit it out,” Oscar asks.
“You think Stacey is going to want to pack up the kids’ lives and leave the only home they have ever known?”
Oscar’s eyes widen as he realizes what she means. “Fuck.”
“We all know you love her, Ragnar, but …”
“There’s no fucking buts, Derrick,” he snaps at me. “I love her. That’s it. Nothing more, nothing less. I love her, and whatever she needs from me I will fucking give her. If that means I’m now a sheep farmer in Mudgee then I’m a fucking sheep farmer.”
Wow. Wasn’t expecting that.
“Seems like you might need to tell her that,” Sienna says softly.
“Stacey knows,” Oscar says.
“But has she heard it?” she pushes. Oscar shakes his head. “Sometimes women need to hear it out loud for it to sink in.”
“Fuck,” he says, scrubbing his face.
“You love our girl, we see that, just reassure her,” I gently add.
