AllFreeNovel
Share Us
She could try, but…just no.
For a moment he thought about responding with something snarky but decided against it. If he was going to do anything—and that was still a big if—it needed to be because it was his decision.
And not because anyone guilted him into it.
He was his own person, dammit! And no one was going to tell him what to do.
Three blocks later, he climbed into his truck and told himself he was doing this because he wanted to.
It had nothing to do with Parker or anything.
“This was my decision,” he firmly stated to himself as he pulled out of the parking lot.
At the first stop sign, he realized he had no idea where he was going. He was completely unfamiliar with Laurel Bay and quickly tapped out the address on his phone and let the GPS direct him.
Five minutes later, he pulled up to a ridiculously small house and frowned.
It wasn’t quite a shack, but it certainly wasn’t much larger than one.
And it wasn’t anywhere near water unless you counted the puddle at the end of the driveway.
“Yeah,” he groaned. “I completely screwed this up.”
He knew it was the right house because he recognized Savannah’s car from last night. There was a good chance that he could just drive away and no one would have to know that he was even here, but…
His father came out and stood on the tiny porch.
“Welp, here we go,” he murmured as he climbed from the truck.
Jackson stood at the foot of the driveway and Cash held his spot on the porch. Neither said a word for a solid minute, but he could see the wariness on his father’s face.
And he’d be lying if he said that this wasn’t the man he was expecting to see.
He took one hesitant step and then another until he stood less than five feet away. There was a sadness in Cash’s eyes along with uncertainty.
“I take it you’re here to yell at me now,” Cash said, but there was very little strength in his words. His voice was raspy and it was hard to tell if he was leaning on the railing just because it was there or if he genuinely needed it to hold him up.
“That was my original plan,” Jackson admitted. “But I need to talk to Savannah first.”
Cash chuckled. “That’s not gonna happen.”
“I don’t believe I asked your permission.”
His father grinned at him. “As much as I’d like to beam with pride at you being the kind of man who stands his ground, this isn’t about me giving permission. This is about her giving me explicit instructions. She doesn’t want to talk to you.”
With his hands clenched at his side, he wasn’t sure how to respond to that.
“And the damn shame of it all was that she really seemed to like you,” Cash went on. “This morning, she told me about this great guy she met last night.” He shrugged. “Of course, she was a little disappointed that you didn’t ask for her number, but it was the first time in years that I’ve seen her even remotely interested in a man.”
“Um…”
“Then she comes home a little while ago and told me what happened and how you were the guy she’d danced with.” He chuckled again. “That was followed by the most colorful vocabulary I’ve ever heard out of her. And I’ve known her since she was twelve.”
“Thanks for the reminder that you’re good with sticking around for other people’s kids and just not your own.”
Cash let out a loud sigh. “As much as I normally don’t mind making a scene in public, it’s a little warm out here and this railing is giving me splinters. Mind if we take this inside?”
And without waiting for an answer, he turned and walked into the house.
