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“We’re on the back patio as long as the wind stays down and the temperature stays up.” As we got closer, I put a hand on the small of her back. I didn’t have to guide her, but that was the excuse I used to touch her. She didn’t speed up or ask me to stop touching her.
The group didn’t stare as we rounded the back of the house, I’d give them that. Except Nora. Shit—what had my sister heard about me?
I ran Emery through the introductions, then offered to grab her a drink. “I have Bud Light.”
Her cheeks flushed with pink dots that had nothing to do with the cool air and everything to do with how I knew she drank Bud Light. It was what she’d ordered when we first met in Crocus Valley.
“That’ll be fine,” she said almost shyly.
I had to go into the house for the beer. I hated leaving her alone in the crowd, but when I returned a minute later, Aspen had engaged her in conversation about her work at the clinic and Aspen’s friend Lyric.
I handed her the beer and started grilling. I’d started the potatoes and vegetables earlier. I’d hosted enough of these that I had my time line down.
When I was a kid, our house had been activity central. I’d had friends obnoxiously revving their engines up and down our driveway. Whatever guy Mom was dating would be coming and going. She had never dated anyone with kids either. Nora had even had a few of her friends over sometimes. When someone was over, Mom would lay off her. I didn’t have the family-filled house I thought I’d have by my thirties, but I wasn’t a hermit.
The rest of the night passed quickly, with good food and good friends. Aspen left first with Nora. Then Kennedy and Liam left to pick the kids up from Liam’s grandma. Laney and Archer were the last to leave. Laney had been grilling Emery about the three doctors at the clinic and which one would be best for a pregnant mom.
Kennedy and Liam were expecting a baby at the end of March, and I wouldn’t have been surprised if Laney and Archer had one soon after.
A tightness pulled at my chest. I rubbed a spot between my pecs. I hadn’t consciously been planning to avoid the new Barron arrivals, but I’d been doing it anyway. I had feigned happiness when Liam told me Kennedy was expecting, but I’d had an inner recoil. The one where I expected my world to turn dark and swallow me up again.
After my talk with Emery, I hoped that wasn’t the case with Archer and Laney. I wanted the ever-present tension to be gone when they had news to share.
I didn’t realize I had spaced out until Emery gently nudged me with an elbow. “Whatcha thinking about?”
I shook my head, but I answered anyway. “How nice it’ll be when Barron kids fill up Coal Haven again.”
“Family is nice to have around. When everyone gets along. I always hope my kids are close as adults.”
“With you in their lives, they will be. But I guess Nora and I are kind of close because Mom was the opposite of you and our dads weren’t around.”
She tilted her head. “Your dad’s not in Coal Haven?”
“No, he used to be. After he finished law school, he came here and opened an office. Technically, I guess he worked for a company in Bismarck that wanted a presence in town. After the fallout with Mom, he moved back to the Bismarck office and now he’s in Billings.” It had gotten easier for me to deal with Dad’s neglect when he moved farther away. My brain had latched onto the excuse.
I went to the patio and started gathering the garbage. There wasn’t much cleanup, but I wanted to get it done before morning or it’d attract critters that would piss Tabby off. Emery jumped in to help.
I kept talking about Dad. Like with my daughter, I never talked about him to anyone other than Stetson. “I went to see him once for some legal help. I was going to propose to Teagan and knew that Mom would have a fit over ownership of the ranch. I thought maybe he could draw up a basic prenup to appease Mom. Teagan didn’t give a shit about my land or the oil money I’d get when I was twenty-five. But Mom’s really militant about keeping it in the family. Something about Naomi sticking way too much of her nose in it.”
“Naomi is an aunt?”
“My uncle Cameron’s wife. Stetson and Isla’s mom. She makes my mom look warm and cuddly.” I set the garbage bag by the sliding door.
The corner of her mouth ticked up as she gathered beer bottles. “I didn’t get a close look at your mom, but she did look tough. I take it the meeting with your dad went horribly.”
“He told me that Mom would make sure she ruined my engagement before I said I do and that since she’d raised me, I’d probably do a good job of fucking the whole thing up before that anyway.”
Emery’s mouth fell open. “He did not.”
“He also said that for a kid who wanted nothing to do with him, I had a lot of balls for coming to him.” I’d had a lot of optimism that had been shattered. Looking back, I know I wasn’t wrong to expect him to help me. My only regret was that I hadn’t pressed him more, made him answer for his treatment of me, instead of blaming Mom. But perhaps it was one of the many signs that Teagan and I weren’t as committed as we should’ve been.
She dumped the bottles into the bucket I used for recycling. “That’s awful.”
I lifted a shoulder and shook out the grill cover. I had heard my dad was a good lawyer and that he was ruthless, but I didn’t think he’d turn on me. That he had no urge to make some sort of amends or help in a small way the son he’d abandoned and ignored.
I had put myself in a vulnerable spot by going to him. And I’d learned my lesson. “It wasn’t like I knew any other lawyers. But I shouldn’t have gone to him, and now there is nothing that could make me talk to him again.” I was done with him.
“He’s completely out of your life?”
