Page 80 of Screwed
Cash had messaged her the day after he’d gotten the email from their dad, asking if she’d heard anything. She’d gotten a similar email, but it was harder for her to get away to meet him. After she was done with exams, she planned to make a weekend trip to Dallas to see him.
So he told him about Ginnie.
Cash seemed to be doing most of the talking, which wasn’t what he’d planned and wasn’t what he’d been expecting. “She says you two are going to get together after she’s done with exams.”
“Yeah.” Dad’s eyes lit up.
“Now you tell me about Brandon.”
Dad smiled. “He’s a fun kid. Bright and creative. Also stubborn. Very stubborn. That kind of determination may serve him well one day, but right now he makes us crazy sometimes.”
“Do you have a picture?”
“Yeah.” Dad pulled out his phone and swiped the screen a few times, then held it out. Cash nodded at the picture of the smiling boy. “I think he looks like you.”
“I think so, too,” Cash reluctantly agreed.
He met his father’s eyes and let the question shine in his own. Dad sighed and looked away. “I want you to know it was never because of you,” he said quietly. “Or Ginnie. I loved you both.”
Bullshit. He stopped himself from saying the word out loud, but that was how he’d always felt. His dad had cared more aboutherthan he had aboutthem. It was hard to not take that personally. To not feel that you weren’t enough.
“But…I didn’t love your mom anymore. I met someone else…it was different. I never knew until I met her… You want to hear all this?”
“I’m not sure.” Cash’s guts twisted. He assaulted his steak sandwich with his knife and fork, his gaze fixed on it.
“I had to be with her,” Dad said simply. “I don’t know how else to say it. She’s my life.”
Cash’s throat ached as he said gruffly, “That really pisses me off.”
His father nodded. “I get that.” He paused. “She became the most important thing to me. Have you ever been in love, Cash?”
After a beat, Cash said, “I’m not sure. I mean… Hell.” He lowered his knife and fork. “Yeah. Maybe.”
Dad chuckled. “Who is it?”
“It’s complicated.”
The conversation went back to light and impersonal. Later, outside the restaurant, they stood facing each other. “Will you meet Brandon?” Dad asked.
He had a brother. He nodded. “Yeah.”
“Thank you.”
They didn’t even shake hands, just parted with nods, and Cash climbed into his truck. He drove back to Houston on autopilot, replaying their conversation. Should he have asked more questions? Demanded more answers?
Back in Houston, he drove straight to Callie’s place. It wasn’t even dinnertime yet, and he wasn’t sure if she’d be at home or working at her shop. He just knew she was the one he had to see. She was the one he could talk to about this. The one heneededto talk to.
He parked in the driveway, then rang her doorbell. She answered wearing an anxious expression, and her relieved smile when she saw him grabbed him by the heart.
“You’re back,” she said. “Come in. How was it?”
“Fucking weird.”
She laughed. “Want a drink?”
“Hell yeah. I would’ve tossed back a bunch of shots at lunch if I hadn’t been driving.”
He followed her into the kitchen, which was surprisingly clean. She must be between projects. She pulled two beers from the fridge and handed him one.
