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Silence falls over the room for a beat before my mom and aunt spur to action.
“Ron, come have a seat beside your daughter. I’ll grab another chair from the kitchen,” my mom says, pushing away from the table.
“I’ll grab you a plate,” my aunt says with no emotion and joins my mom in the kitchen.
“Hey, sweetheart.” He gives Trisha a kiss on the cheek.
She smiles at him a little warily and introduces Scott.
Uncle Rex smells like a distillery and his hair points in every direction. Even worse, the top three buttons of his shirt are undone and there’s a faint stain of pink lipstick on the collar.
My mom brings in the chair. He doesn’t bother thanking her or my aunt when she sets a plate and cutlery in front of him.
It’s only once he’s taken a seat that he even notices me. “Shayna, you’re back. How’s California?”
“It’s good, Uncle Rex.” I give him all the smile I can muster.
As she passes me, my aunt squeezes my shoulder in thanks for not making a scene. I only do it for her. I’ve always hated the way everyone pretends nothing is wrong and refuses to call my uncle out on his shit. The fact that he doesn’t even feel the need to explain why he’s hours late shows nothing has changed in my absence.
I’m quiet for the rest of dinner, stewing over the kind of men my uncle and father are. Lee would never do this. He would have been helping me make dinner. Or maybe even prepare it and let me sleep in.
As if a bolt of lightning comes down, the truth hits me. I could never rely on my dad or my uncle growing up, but since he’s come back into my life, Lee has worked to prove to me that I’m number one in his life. He saved me the night of the gala, during my plumbing problems, and took the chance of missing another game to take care of me when I was sick.
He’s a better man than either of the two men at this table.
Suddenly I feel foolish for pushing him away. I still don’t know how we’ll handle the work situation, but we’ll figure it out together.
And I can’t wait to tell him as soon as I get back to San Francisco tomorrow.
The plane lands, and all I want to do is call Lee and tell him how wrong I was and how sorry I am for our fight before I left for my parents’. I don’t know what we’re going to do, but I believe him now when he says we’ll figure it out. We just need to come up with a plan.
I usually hate when people stand and wait in the aisle as soon as the plane lands, but today I’m one of them because I’m anxious to see Lee. I don’t want to have this conversation over the phone. I want him to be able to look in my eyes and see how much I care for him.
Since I was in and out of Wisconsin, I only have a carry-on with me, so as soon as I’m off the plane, I turn my phone off airplane mode to order an Uber to take me to Lee’s place.
It blows up with notifications, all of which I ignore until I order the Uber and see that it’s just around the corner. I use the couple of minutes I have to check my texts. First, I text my mom that I landed, then I pull up my thread with Bryce because there are, like, twelve notifications beside her name.
My stomach sinks when I see the picture she texted.
Holy shit.
I’m not sure how long I’m standing there before the Uber pulls up in front of me. I stand in shock, not moving. Finally, the front window rolls down.
“You Shayna? You order an Uber?” the man asks.
I nod, unable to look away from my screen. Then I click on the other text message and swallow against the dryness of my throat. “I need to change the address I’m going to though. That okay?”
He shrugs. “You’re the one paying.”
My shaking hands can barely open up the door. I slide into the back seat, afraid of what comes next.
Thirty-Five
Lee
Istep into the Kingsmen owner’s office and look at the long faces. Giles is there, of course—it’s his office—as well as Coach and Dr. Carlisle.
“Why’s everyone look so glum? Bad Thanksgiving with the families?” I ask.
