AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I don’t want to.”
“I need to talk to them,” he said. “Grown-up stuff. I’ll tell you everything later. I promise.”
Riley thought for a moment, and then she and Puffy made their way to the house.
“I don’t want to date him,” April hissed as Riley disappeared. “This is nothing more than his thinly disguised attempt to get me into bed. Not that I consider myself so irresistible these days, but try convincing him.”
Dean winced. “
Please. Not in front of the child.”
April pointed her brush at Jack, and a trickle of paint ran down her arm. “You like a challenge, and I won’t put out for you. That makes me a novelty.”
As repulsive as it was to hear about his parents’ sex life—or apparent lack of one—he had a stake in this conversation, and he forced himself to stay put.
“What makes you a novelty,” Jack said, “is the way you can’t shake off the past.”
They started tossing around insults, both of them so intent on self-protection they didn’t see the hurt they were inflicting, but Dean saw it. He climbed down the ladder. Just because his own life was a mess didn’t mean he wasn’t clear about what other people needed to do. “It would mean a lot to me if the two of you really liked each other,” he said, “but I guess that’s my problem. I know you don’t want to make me feel like a mistake, and putting up a front whenever I’m around has to be getting old.”
Sucker’s bait, and Blue would have seen right through it, but she was currently locked up in the city jail for stealing a necklace Nita had planted in her purse, and these two were awash in guilt. “A mistake?” April exclaimed, getting rid of her brush. “Don’t ever feel like you were a mistake.”
Jack came down the ladder and moved to her side, the two of them suddenly a single unit. “You were a miracle, not a mistake.”
Dean rubbed at some paint on his hand. “I don’t know, Jack. When your parents basically hate each other…”
“We don’t hate each other,” he said sharply. “Even when we were at our worst, we never hated each other.”
“That was then, and this is now.” Dean rubbed off more paint. “From where I stand…Never mind. I shouldn’t let it bother me. I’ll be satisfied with what I can get. When you come to my games, I’ll shuffle the tickets around so your seats are as far apart as I can get them.”
Blue would have been rolling her eyes, but April pressed her hand to her chest, leaving a paint smear behind. “Oh, Dean…You don’t have to separate us. It’s not like that.”
He pretended to look perplexed. “How is it then? Maybe you’d better tell me because I’m confused. Do I have a family or not?”
She whipped off her bandanna. “I love your father, as stupid as that might be. I did then, and I do again. But that doesn’t mean he can pop in and out of my life whenever he pleases.” She was sounding more confrontational than loving, and he wasn’t entirely surprised when Jack took offense.
“If you love me, why the hell are you giving me such a hard time?”
The old man wasn’t handling this as well as he should, so Dean slipped his arm around his mother’s shoulders. “Because she’s done with fly-by-night relationships, and that’s pretty much all you’re offering. Isn’t that right, April?” He turned back to his father. “You’ll take her to dinner a couple of times and then forget she exists.”
“That’s bull,” Jack shot back. “And whose side are you on anyway?”
Dean thought it over. “Hers.”
“Thanks a lot.” Jack’s earring bobbled as he jerked his head toward the house. “Make yourself scarce, too. Your mother and I have a few things to settle.”
“Yes, sir.” Dean snatched a water bottle and disappeared. He wanted to be by himself anyway.
Jack grabbed April by the arm and hauled her inside the barn where they could have a little privacy. He was burning up, and not just from the midday heat. He was burning up from guilt, from fear, from lust, and from hope. The dusty barn still held the faint scent of hay and manure. He backed April against a stall.
“Don’t you ever again say that all I want from you is sex. Do you hear me?” He gave her a little shake. “I love you. How could I not love you? We’re almost the same person. I want a future with you. And I think you should have let me figure that out on my own without trying to convince our son I’m a sleaze.”
April couldn’t be intimidated. “Exactly when did you realize you loved me?”
“Right away.” He saw the skepticism in her eyes. “Maybe not the first night. Maybe not exactly right away.”
“How about yesterday?”
He wanted to lie, but he couldn’t. “My heart knew it, but my head hadn’t completely sorted it out.” He brushed her cheek with his knuckles. “You were braver than me. The moment you said those words out there, it was like this big egg cracked open and I could finally see what was inside.”
