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“Regardless if it’s true or not,” my dad continues, “she took the money she got for selling Stevie’s diary and went on a fucking vacation.”
“That bitch,” Harlow screeches, and the two customers at the end of the bar look our way. She waves a hand and says, “Sorry.” She then turns back and whispers, “I want to kill your mother.”
“Take a number,” my dad growls. “I get first crack.”
“No one is killing anyone,” I say with every bit of the fatigue I feel. “It’s done, and I’m moving on. I suggest you two get over it too.”
“But Hendrix,” Harlow exclaims. “You have to tell him what happened. He—”
“No,” I cut her off harshly, and she blinks at me in surprise. “I tried to get him to listen so I could tell him the entire story. I begged for five fucking minutes of his time, and he wouldn’t give it to me. He told me to leave him alone, so I’m abiding by that. It cut me to my core, Harlow, so Hendrix does not get the privilege of knowing there was more. He can suffer the pain of thinking I betrayed him.”
“Stevie,” Harlow drawls in a soft, almost cooing voice. “Don’t be like that. Hendrix is hurt and he lashed out. But you know he’s a good guy. You know—”
“Fuck him,” my dad snarls, and Harlow jumps. “Fuck that bastard who couldn’t give my girl five minutes.”
I love my dad.
“Harlow,” I say, a little more gently. “I love you, you know that, right?”
She nods.
“I’m asking you as someone who I know loves me back, you cannot tell him. He told me I was just like my mother.” Harlow blanches at such spitefulness. “He aimed low, and he struck hard, then he abandoned me without a backward glance. He’s the one like my mother, not me, so he gets nothing. You understand?”
Harlow nods mutely.
I take a deep breath and set my half-eaten pizza slice down because I’m not hungry anymore. “I have to do some organizing in the back. Thank you for checking on me.”
I look to my dad, and I don’t have to say a word. He knows what I need. “I’ll watch the bar for you while you… organize.”
Spinning on my foot, I walk slowly, shoulders back, to the storeroom. I’m not in a hurry to escape Harlow. As long as she can only see my back, she can’t see my face as tears start streaming down, and she will never know how broken I remain.
My dad does, though. It’s not the first time I’ve needed alone time to collect myself, and it won’t be the last, I’m sure.
Inside the storeroom, I dash my tears away with my shirtsleeve and move cases of beer around for better efficiency.
After about five minutes, the door opens. I don’t need to glance back to know it’s my dad.
“She’s gone,” he says. “I filled her in on some of the other details, but she promised she won’t approach Hendrix with it, and she said she’ll get the same promise from Stone.”
Of course, because she’ll share this with Stone, and I suppose I can’t fault her for that.
I pick up the last case and place it on the stack. “That was nice of her to check on me, though.”
“Yeah… Harlow’s always that one friend you can count on,” he muses. “And she’s not necessarily wrong about telling Hendrix the truth, if that’s what you want.”
“Not what I want,” I mutter as I face him. “Fuck men.”
My dad stares at me, stroking the end of his beard thoughtfully. “You know… I like this new person you’ve become. Cold. Hard. Don’t take any shit. I’ve been waiting your whole life to see you mature into the type of woman I knew you could be, and I’m so proud.”
I’m stunned to my core, and my jaw drops. “Really?”
“No, not fucking really,” he snaps with an eye roll. “I don’t want you to close yourself off like that. I want you to be open to finding love again. It might not be Hendrix, but it can be someone.”
I put a hand on my hip. “You want me to be open to finding love again?”
“Yeah… what father wouldn’t?”
“The type who himself never bothered,” I point out.
“That’s different,” he grumbles.
“It always is,” I say as I move by him, giving his chest a pat on the way out the door. “And I love you, anyway.”
CHAPTER 25
Hendrix
Trudging into the locker room, I know I should be happy we got the win tonight, but there’s no joy. This general feeling of pissiness isn’t going away, and I know I have to do something soon. My teammates are getting tired of it.
Maybe I just need to fuck someone and that will get me past Stevie. Maybe the woman from Mario’s who offered the threesome will be there tonight.
