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For a minute, neither said a word.
“You know what annoys me the most?” Garrett asked.
“All of this?” he replied with a small laugh.
“No, but…yeah. Okay.” He paused. “It’s that…Mom and Dominic just really got back to a good place and then Dad goes and shows up again. It’s almost like he did it on purpose.”
“How do we know he didn’t?”
“Please, he hasn’t paid much attention to us since we were kids. You think he’s paying attention to when Mom started dating?”
He shrugged. “I think he’s that selfish and twisted and can’t be trusted. I wouldn’t put anything past him.”
And yet another sigh. “You know what? I’m sorry I brought any of this up.”
“What is it you want me to say, G? I mean…seriously, what? Do you want me to be happy or…or maybe ask about when we can all get together for a barbecue? What exactly doyouthink of all this?”
“Honestly? I don’t know. I don’t know why he’s here if he’s not going to reach out to us. That just seems weird to me.”
Jackson had a stronger word in mind, but he supposed weird worked.
“If Aunt Georgia saw him, can’t you just ask her?”
“She didn’t talk to him. She just saw him and apparently talked briefly to the girl with him—who might be our sister.”
“Half-sister,” he corrected tensely. “And what did this girl have to say?”
“According to Aunt Georgia, not much. She mentioned his cancer and that he was the only family she had and how he wanted to come back here to say goodbye to everyone.”
“Hard to say goodbye when he’s not picking up the phone or reaching out to anyone…”
“Yeah.”
“And what about Austin? What’s his take on all of this?”
“Like you, he’s pissed. He feels like he trusted Dad the last time and we all got…you know…”
“Screwed. The word you’re looking for is screwed.”
“Fine. Screwed. He’s not particularly interested in waiting for the phone to ring because the baby’s going to be here soon and he and Mia are all wrapped up in nesting.”
“Nesting? What the hell is nesting?”
“You know, preparing the house for the baby. Surely you’ve heard that phrase before. This family is popping out babies on an almost constant rotation!” Garrett explained, fully amused.
“And I haven’t been home for most of it, so…no. Nesting is not in my vocabulary.”
“Anyway…enough about Dad and all that. What about you? Do you know when you’re coming for a visit?”
Right now, Jackson wished he could say never. His head was already kind of messed up over his injury; the last thing he needed was to be walking into this shit show with his family.
And potentially new family.
“Jack?”
“What? Oh, right…um…actually, I should be in Magnolia next month.”
“Really? That’s awesome! Do you have a date yet? Can I pick you up at the airport?”
