Twelve hours, one plane flight, and a rental car trip later, Lyla ends up in front of her father's dealership. Of all the places in Dillon, she doesn't know what brings her here first. She assumed she'd end up at her mother's house or maybe even her sister's place. Instead, she drove aimlessly to end up at Garrity Motors. Now that she has arrived, it seems like an oddly appropriate choice.
Considering it's midnight, the dealership lot is empty. Besides a quick check-in by her father, nobody will report to work tomorrow either. Buddy never believed in opening the lot on Sundays. She pulls into the dealership anyways. It's the middle of the night in her quiet West Texas hometown. Where else is she supposed to go?
Reminiscing, she thinks about her hatred of her dad's business. At first, she hated how it changed him. Later, she hated how it ruined her parents' marriage. She adds her anger to the list of ways she has become completely hypocritical. In the end, she takes right after her father. She's a dirty little cheater too, a nice little wrecking ball to perfectly good relationships. Many years ago, she smashed through the dealership to make a statement to him. Now, she sits here trying to understand why she never learns from her experiences.
Suddenly, a shout interrupts her silence. "Hey!" Lyla jumps. She can't make out who's speaking. With the onset of adrenaline, her heart pumps faster. She presses the automatic lock button on her door. Rolling her window open a crack, she tries to get a better lock of the figure in the distance. Is it an intruder? Could she really be that unlucky?
"Hello?" Lyla hesitantly asks into the darkness. "Hello?" she repeats, raising her voice.
"Listen, if you think you're going to be on my lot at this time in the night then you better think again-"
Her muscles relax as she processes both the voice and the words coming from it. She interrupts him, "Daddy, it's me."
Next to her window, her father emerges from the darkness. "Lyla?" he questions in disbelief as he catches a glimpse of her face. "What in the world are you doing here? And at this time of night!" he exclaims.
"I could ask you the same thing," Lyla remarks, wondering why her father's alone at his dealership at midnight. "Come in," she offers, gesturing to her passenger seat.
As Buddy climbs into the passenger seat, he shrugs. "I spend a lot of nights here lately. Don't have too much to go home to anymore." He sounds pathetic, like someone drowned his dog.
"What about Kelsey?" Lyla asks, referring to the newest girlfriend. Unlike most of his flings, they had been together for over a year now. She thought they might actually have something real. At the same time, a break-up would hardly surprise her given her father's track record with relationships. Who's she to judge? She seems to be heading down the same path.
"Left me for a younger man," Buddy mutters bitterly. "That's what you get for cougars being all the rage these days."
Tilting her head to the side, Lyla peers at her father. He did not just refer to his latest conquest as a cougar. She wants to vomit. Still, she actually sympathizes with him. The feeling surprises her. She forgave her father a long time ago, but struggled with his decision for many years. Now, she relates to him more than ever. Despite his mistakes, she wants him to find happiness. It scares her. "I'm sorry," she gently apologizes.
Buddy smiles. She swears she sees a wistful look shimmering in his eyes. "Thank you, baby. Now, tell me, why are you here? Not that I don't love to see you, because I do, Lyla."
"I just needed to come home for a couple of days," Lyla explains truthfully. "I'm staying until late Tuesday afternoon."
"Can't you stay longer? It's been so long since you've been around, baby." It's true. She's been gone for years. Long ago, she decided she was done for good with Dillon. Oops.
Lyla shakes her head. "I have work. I'm already missing a couple of days to be here."
Buddy raises his eyebrows. "You're missing work? Is something wrong?" Exaggeratedly, he places his hand on top of hers. He always does go a little bit too far with the sentiment. Only now, she realizes he means well.
"Mhm, I made some mistakes," she admits, finding it easier to tell her father about her flaws than Jason. Unlike Jason, Buddy Garrity always has been so flawed himself. All of her imperfections seem tinier around him. How can he not accept her after she's forgiven him? She figures that it's the ideal eye for an eye scenario.
"What kind of mistakes, baby?" Buddy inquires, slowly annunciating each word. Over the years, he always tried so hard to comfort her. More often than not, his efforts fell short. His over the top sympathy appeared fake to her. Nothing he could say would faze her. Now, everything was different.
Lyla answers him with a question of her own, "Why did you cheat on Mom?" Staring into his eyes, she works to keep her voice as level as possible.
Buddy looks startled. Even after all the years, he hates talking about the divorce. "Oh, come on now, that's the past," he shrugs it off.
Unable to let it go, she shakes her head. "Please Daddy. I need to know why," Lyla insists as sweetly as possible.
"I- I don't know," Buddy stutters. "I really don't know."
Knowing how she feels, the answer should be good enough. It's not though. Lyla needs a better answer from him than her own. After all, he has had all the years to figure one out. She needs to know that there's some sort of answer. "Just give me something. There has to be a reason," she pleads.
For a moment, Buddy's quiet. She seldom sees her father silent. He's always blabbering on and on about something to someone. He clears his throat, "I'm a weak man," he finally says. "I saw Angela and for some fleeting moment, I wanted her. At the time, I didn't want very much. You see, Lyla, I had it all."
"So the first time you wanted something, you just needed to have it?" Lyla's trying so hard to understand. She's trying to apply it to her own life. She thought understanding would have come easier now, seeing how she's making the same mistakes.
"No. I think I probably wanted one thing or another before Angela Collette. It's just that moment, I was weaker. Having everything can do very bad things to a man. I just- I got greedy," Buddy confesses. "I made the biggest mistake of my life, cheating on your mother. Once I lost everything important, I realized just that. Sometimes you learn a little too late," he adds. She notices how he looks truly devastated when he ponders his reasoning out loud.
Lyla appreciates the insight gained from her father's confession. Simultaneously, she feels a twinge of disappointment. She expected it all to help her more. She never thought of herself as greedy, but maybe she has been taking it all for granted. In order to understand, maybe she needs to lose it all.
"Mom's happy now," Lyla reminds him, in some effort to console her father. "You'll be happy again too." She isn't certain that he'll find the same happiness as her mother. She sincerely wants him to find some semblance of happiness.
"I am happy," Buddy answers with a smile. "Especially now that you're here, baby. Now tell me, what does my history with Angela Collette have to do with your sudden reappearance? Is this something to do with your mother?" His eyes widen, "She's not pregnant, is she? Some of that IVF nonsense?"
After all this time, her father's still jealous of her mother's new husband. She can't help but chuckle at the idea of her mother pregnant right now. "No Dad," she reassures him, shaking her head. "I told you. I'm here because I made a huge mistake."
"I'm sure you're overreacting," Buddy tells her. He still thinks of her as his perfect little princess. Occasionally, he still calls her princess. She needs to remind him how much has changed since her childhood. He always has excuses for her actions. She can't let him excuse anything she tells him today.
Telling her father is so much easier than telling Jason. "I cheated, Daddy," she confesses, without squirming over the words.
"Cheated at what, Lyla?" he questions, not quite understanding even with her direct approach.
"On my completely wonderful fiancée," she confirms. It feels wrong not to say his name. It reminds her of Gabriel's own avoidance. She needs to keep it personal. "I cheated on Carter."
"Oh baby," Buddy immediately soothes her. His eyes widen and for a fleeting moment, Lyla almost thinks she sees a hint of excitement flash through them, "You're telling me this first, even before your mother?"
Lyla shakes her head. She hates how her father feels the need to add his own propaganda. Can't he let go of the competition right now? It pisses her off. "Well, you know, I thought you have more experience with the subject," she spits back. She knows how unfair she's being, but she wants her comment to reach him.
Buddy flinches. "You're right. I know how difficult it is," he replies sympathetically trying to make up for his selfish moment.
Lyla knows his empathy is real. Still, it doesn't bring her any relief. It makes her feel dirtier than ever. It feels so false, like she's bonding with her father over their affair history. It doesn't matter that neither of them are proud of what they did; they did it anyways. How can she forget how her father's affair with Angela Collette destroyed her mother? Soon, she's going to devastate Carter the same way. There's no way to take solace over such an awful act.
"It's my own fault it's difficult," she sharply sputters. "I brought it on myself. I certainly deserve all the repercussions."
Buddy places his hand back onto her arm. "It's a terrible mistake. Everybody makes them, Lyla. Just because you made the mistake doesn't mean it has to hurt any less."
It did hurt like hell. She can't chalk it all up to a mistake though. Over and over again, she's repeated her "mistake". She focuses in on his eyes, "When Carter finds out what I did, it is going to break his heart. I can't justify his pain at all. So quite frankly, the answer is no Dad. My pain as the adulterer does not matter." She knows she sounds slightly overdramatic, but overdramatic often works best with her father.
Without a word, Buddy nods. "You're not planning on sleeping in this car all night, are you?"
Honestly, Lyla hadn't really planned on sleeping tonight. She had taken a nap on the plane. In her current state, sleep hardly seemed important. "I was planning on just taking a ride through town, seeing how things have changed."
"That's ridiculous. Your mother would kill me if I didn't insist that you come home with me to sleep in a proper bed tonight. And let's face it; she's already on the verge of killing me half of the time," Buddy tries to joke, despite the bad timing of bringing up her mother despising him.
If she says no, Buddy will probably just insist of driving around town with her all night anyways. Getting a little sleep can't kill her. "Fine," she sighs. "Bring your own car though. I'm heading out early tomorrow morning," she bluntly informs him.
Agreeing, Buddy gets out of the rental car. He rambles on about her staying for breakfast first. Lyla doesn't really have any intention of spending the morning at her father's place. In fact, she's planning on setting her alarm early to avoid a longer reunion. Before she goes back to Nashville, she'll make sure to say goodbye. Until then, she has some people to see.
Her father pulls up in front of her. She starts to follow him down the familiar Dillon streets. Soon enough, they'll be back at his place. She has a lot to accomplish in Dillon and not very much time to complete all of her tasks. It's time to get some sleep.