With a laugh, she slid her sexy rump up onto a barstool. “No, I meant about your parents.” In a gentler tone, she added, “Or would you rather not share?”
“It’s weird, but I don’t mind.” He, too, took a stool, angling toward her so that their knees touched. “How about I keep it brief?” Then they could move on to better things. “I guess Dad had run out of cash, so he tried to rob my grandmother. He grabbed some cash she had hidden, but she must have busted him because he tore out of the driveway in a rush.” Deadpan, he explained, “My granny carried a revolver in her housecoat pocket. She’d have shot him if she could.”
Incredulous, Glory stared without blinking.
“Anyway, she and my mother chased after him. That was all on the door cam, him hightailing it out of there, the two women jumping in my mom’s car and screeching after him. Neighbors watched them racing up the road. Dad was going too fast when he tried to take the turn, almost hit a big garbage truck and rolled. Since he wasn’t buckled in, he ended up in the roadway, his head and neck mangled. Granny and Mom hit the truck. They weren’t buckled in, either. Mom was crushed inside the car. Granny was half in, half out of the vehicle. She died from internal bleeding. Fortunately, the truck driver was okay.”
“Do you miss them?”
“Addie asked me that once, too.” Maybe Glory had more in common with Addie than she realized. “Tanner answered for me, because he already knew.”
Looking into his eyes, she guessed, “No?”
“I’ll never forget Tanner’s exact words.” Affecting Tanner’s bossy tone, he said, “No, and if he did, he’d deny it, same as I would.”
She grinned with him. “He can be autocratic—but was he right?”
“Yeah, and that was the day I decided to lighten up on him, to maybe be his brother instead of his adversary.”
Just above his knee, she lightly touched his thigh. “I think, even when things are awful, our parents manage to find a little place to live in our hearts.”
He shrugged. “Like a cancer or something.” At least, that’s how he felt about his parents. He wondered how she felt about hers.
“Maybe. I guess not everyone is cut out to be a parent.”
“Truth. That’s why Tanner does so much to help kids now.”
“You help as well.”
How could he not? If it hadn’t been for Addie, he’d have never known what family should be. Even when he was a jerk, she loved him. When he got into trouble, she protected him, but she also lectured him.
And not once, even while giving him guidance, did she insult him.
Ever.
She taught him and Tanner about loyalty and honor, but she’d taught them about family, too. She brought into his life things he’d never dared to hope for, like birthday celebrations, a Christmas tree with presents under it, fun outings... Jokes over dinner, the ability to discuss anything, ask questionswithout being ridiculed, reprimands that weren’t demeaning, praise he never expected... All things that he’d come to cherish. “Every kid deserves to feel valued.”
“Even when they screw up,” Glory agreed.
That made him even more curious, especially with the way Glory withdrew. “How Addie treated me had a lot to do with it, but it helped that she knew how to make a house a home. Not that it was big or fancy or anything. Before Tanner and I helped expand and remodel parts, it was just a midsize farmhouse.”
“It’s a home in a way few places ever can be.”
Very true.“Even when it was run-down, the place had warmth and love.” He grinned. “And Addie cooking. Most of the time, I’d wake in the morning to the smell of something good coming from the kitchen.”
“That sounds really nice.”
To an underfed kid, it had been heaven. “Tanner said he’ll never leave it, so I’m really glad Callie agreed to move in.”
“And yet, you wanted to leave.”
It would have been easy to stay on at Addie’s home with her always pampering him, to get comfortable with Tanner sharing his workload and his worries. “One day, I might go back.” After he’d proven that it was a choice, not a need.
It wasn’t until that very moment that it hit him: Was it a need, not for him, but possibly for Addie and Tanner? Did they need him to help pay the bills? From the time they’d gotten jobs, he and Tanner had always pitched in, financially and with the upkeep of the house. Christ, had he been a selfish ass?
“What?” Concern brought her closer. “You don’t like the idea of going back?”
He shook his head, unwilling to share all that right nowwhen he’d rather focus on getting her to bed. That meant lightening things up a little. “I doubt I’ll ever take Percy from there. Addie and I both give it lip service, but...”
