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“Come on, you guys. Help me out here. My Dream Girl has finally agreed to be with me, and I’m not leaving anything up to chance.”
“You might be putting a bit too much pressure on yourself, buddy.” Cash elbows me in the ribs. “If the woman likes you, she won’t care where you take her to eat.”
“You don’t understand how hard I worked to score this girl,” I tell them. “I needeverythingto be perfect, so I can lock down the perfect girl. For life. Because I’ll never get another shot at a perfect first date with her if I blow this one.”
Dad leans his weight on his broom and stares off. “Maybe you could take her to a play. Women like that sort of stuff. I’ve been thinking about getting two tickets to Moulin Rouge for next Saturday at the…”
His words trail off when he looks up and sees us all staring at him in confusion.
“You have a date?” I ask him. “That’s cool. Anyone we know?” He hasn’t been in town long enough to have met someone, has he?
He clears his throat guiltily. “I…I was thinking your mother might want to come with me. She likes Moulin Rouge. Right? Nicky says she does.”
Nicky. Of course our little sister is behind this. Dad’s perpetual partner in crime.
Cash blinks. “Let me get this straight—you’re buying tickets for you and Mom to go to a musical?”
Dad nods sheepishly.
Cash prods further. “Does Mom know that?”
Our father drops his attention, suddenly very, very interested in sweeping the floor again. “It was just an idea. I figured we could go. Just as friends.”
I lift an eyebrow and the rest of the guys look just as surprised as me. Dad certainly never had the time to take Mom to a play when they were married. He was a workaholic, always too busy at the office to make time for the things that mattered at home. Which is exactly why they ended up in divorce court.
Jasper slams the hood of my car and folds his arms across his chest, watching our father suspiciously. “I don’t think herboyfriendwill appreciate her being ‘just friends’ with the bastard who impregnated her five times.” He’s getting angry now. Our parent’s divorce is still a touchy subject for him. He’s only recently started making an effort to forgive our father for the role he played.
Dad’s eyes dart up angrily. “Hey, that’s your mother you’re talking about like that!” he defends his ex-wife’s honor.
“Just sayin’,” Jasper grumbles with an upward jerk of his shoulders. “And didn’t you buy her ruby earrings a few months back? She turned them down.”
“That was different,” our father says lamely.
“Different how?” Cash presses.
“The earrings were a gift. Rubies are her birthstone, y’know. And she still wears that ruby pendant I gave her when we were married. So I thought she might like the earrings, too. But this—the theater—it was…I just…” His resolve cracks. “I just want to spend time with her, okay?”
“Should have done that when you had the chance,” Jasper mumbles. “Don’t mean to be harsh, but she’s happy now.”
I think back to the awkward tension between Mom and Troy at the gala. “Is she, though?”
“Dad, you can’t ask her to go to the theater with you,” Davis says diplomatically, his forehead creased.
“Why the fuck not?” I say, taking our father’s side.
“That would be inappropriate,” Davis counters. “They’re divorced. Divorce is the line in the sand. The whole point of divorce is that you don’t get to spend time together anymore. You don’t get to be with her anymore. You don’t get to love her anymore.”
Damn—I can almost hear the seams of my oldest brother’s heart ripping as he speaks. He sounds so fucking torn.
Our father sounds equally torn. He scrubs a hand down his face. “But I…what if I changed my mind?” His teeth grind into his bottom lip. “I ran into her at the grocery store the other day. She looked very pretty. I…I just…”
Cash shakes his head. “Dad, leave her alone. She’s moved on…”
Look—Dad made mistakes. Arguably, Mom did, too. But people change. Priorities change. Over time, things shift into focus. Things don’t always get worse as the years go on. Sometimes they take a turn for the better…No?
I’m the one grumbling now. “Well, I’d sure as hell rather see our parents back together than see her with that creep she’s planning to move in with any day now!”
All eyes shoot to me.
