#rivervale_lodge

...of course, he cannot hear a nod, but she has the tone of confirmation.

An awkward pause.

"Almost." he admits.

"Where will you be going?"

"Not sure yet."

A pause.

"When will you be returning."

"When would I be welcome? By you."

"You are not unwelcome now. But...you do not seem to want to be here."

A long pause. "I don't know how to communicate with Siv. I held Jessica too close. I drive your children away. Perhaps I should drive myself away."

"No. Not forever. But you are right, that neither of us must be allowed to drive the children away. And...I know you want time to think."

"I have been thinking. When I could, over those trying to talk to me." Not -entirely- without humor.

"Hm." A sound of rueful amusement. "We wished to help."

A sigh. "I know."

"I don't know to fix it, Brekke."

"Frank..." Carefully. "Can we meet, to talk?"

A pause. "Yes."

"Where?"

"Where would you like to?"

"I will come to you. Where are you now?"

Another pause. "The parking lot."

A pause, and a sigh. "That would explain why I did not hear the rig leave. I will be right there."

She hangs up the phone.

A few minutes later, the passenger door of the rig opens. "May I join you?" Brekke asks seriously.

Sure enough, there it is, sitting in the dark like a sleeping dragon.

He looks over in the light of the cab's overhead. "Yes."

She climbs up and settles in the seat, closes the door behind her.

The cab light goes off, and they sit together in the dark. The lights from the Lodge's windows gleam uphill from the parking lot.

Frank bows to rest his chin on the wheel, staring at the lights. "Looks... warm from here. Always thought so."

"Mm," she agrees, a little tone of pride. Then she looks over at him.

"It may be that all parenting is like this."

"Doesn't make it right. Or easy. I don't mean 'not hard for me' but......"

"No." A pause. "Tell me what makes you angry. Not what she did...but why what she did makes you angry."

Frank things for a bit. "I'm angry at Kerri and Olgar for asking her to go because they know about her situation and asked anyway. They had to call her in Jefferson City to do it. The risk..."

"What else?"

"I'm angry Siv accepted, knowing the risk. Brekke, we almost lost ourselves getting there. If she had forgotten, she could have crashed the Rig and been injured. The authorities. A hospital. Her identification. No CDL....."

She nods. "What else?"

"I'm angry at the presumption of everyone I've mentioned."

A pause.

"You are angry because Siv took dangerous risks. You are angry because others made decisions on your behalf when you could not. Correct?"

He thinks about this and reluctantly agrees. "Yes."

Another pause. She turns to him. "You will not like what I have to say."

A taciturn grunt.

"Siv is entering house Fiona. She is doing so because it is a natural fit for her. It is in her nature to take risks. She is not a fool -- while she has taken risks that have resulted in close calls, she has seldom made bad decisions in her risks. So as to Siv being in a position of risk, for a goal that she deemed worthwhile...I say you will have to 'get over it.' "

"Perhaps even thank her."

"It seems she brought the rig back in fine condition," she points out. "That is worth recognition."

"Yes, that was the first thing she pointed out to me." with soft bitterness. "That I should check the Rig and make sure."

"Did you?"

"No."

"Why?"