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CHAPTER 39
Jimmy
My chest felt like there was a ton of bricks sitting on it as I pulled into the parking lot at Southern Comfort. I’d thought that I was bummed the first time Bella said she didn’t want to see me anymore, but that seemed like a walk in the park now.
She wasn’t answering my calls and she’d only written back short responses to my texts. I’d said that we needed to talk, she’d said that she couldn’t. I’d said that I was sorry that I’d told her the things I had, the way I had, she’d told me it was fine.
It was fine. Every man in the world knew that when a woman says something is “fine,” it’s not fucking fine.
I kept running our conversation that morning over and over again in my head. Damn, things had escalated quickly. There were so many things I could’ve said and done differently.
And hopefully, I would get my chance to make it up to her. I was at the bar for a family meeting that Cheyenne had called, and I was praying that Bella would be there. I assumed this meeting was about what Cheyenne had learned at Abernathy’s office. And since Bella had been with her for that meeting, I hoped she’d be here for this one.
The midday heat hit me like a slap in the face as I stepped onto the asphalt and shut my truck door.
“Hey, Jimmy!” A car full of women called out as they drove by.
It took me a second but then I recognized them as a group of college friends that came to Firefly Island on an annual trip since they’d graduated ten years ago. They had a tradition of chartering the boat for a day of debauchery on the sea each trip.
Any other year, I’d be happy to see them in town. This year, I was wondering if I could get someone else to take them out on the water. I just couldn’t face an entire day of meaningless flirting. Not in my current mental state.
Bella broke me. There was no two ways about it. I was different after knowing her. It felt like I hadn’t really been awake to the important stuff and now I was. I wasn’t sure if I could ever go back to the way I’d been pre-Bella, or if I even wanted to.
Whenever I’d seen men, or women, at the bar nursing a broken heart, I’d just figured it had been an excuse to drink. I didn’t actually think that they were in physical pain. I’d been so arrogant to think that they weren’t really hurting. Or that I was somehow immune to the pain they were experiencing.
Sure, I’d watched my old man spend years wallowing in the pain and suffering he’d endured after losing my mom. But even that hadn’t prepared me for what true heartbreak felt like.
I’d broken ten bones in my life, not including the four ribs I cracked when I crashed my ATV playing chicken with Knox. I would take any one of those breaks over a broken heart any day of the week. At least with those, there was a clear path to recovery. With a broken heart, there was no timeline. And it hurt a hell of a lot more, too.
When I opened the door, I saw that I was the final Comfort to arrive. Billy, Hank, and Cheyenne were all gathered around the bar. Unfortunately, Bella was not. She hadn’t come to this meeting.
“Nice of you to join us,” Billy remarked sarcastically.
I would talk shit back but since he’d covered for me while I’d spent the day with Bella, I decided to bite my tongue.
Before I even made it halfway across the bar Cheyenne was speaking. “I met with Jennings today.”
“And?” Billy asked.
“He’s not my father,” Cheyenne stated flatly showing no emotion.
“He said he wasn’t, and you just believed him?” Billy’s hands fisted and his jaw ticked.
“No. I didn’t just believe him. He’s had five separate paternity tests done, years apart. He gave me copies. He thought he was my father, but it turned out he wasn’t.”
“So who is?” I asked, but quickly realized she would have no idea either.
“I don’t know. Bella is going to look into it. She’s headed home and she’s—”
“She’s what?” I interrupted.
Cheyenne’s eyes shot to mine. “She went home.”
Her words hit me like the time I got nailed in the stomach with a fast ball junior year. It knocked the wind right out of me.
“I’m sorry…” Cheyenne’s forehead creased. “I just assumed she’d told you.”
“She didn’t.” I could feel the pitying stares of my brothers and sister. I didn’t need them feeling sorry for me. I’d seen my brothers look at my father that way and I never wanted anyone to look at me like that. Ever. “It’s fine. We’ve been playing phone tag.” If your definition of tag was me calling and her not answering. “You were saying she’s looking into what?”
