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“Wren's pretty happy that you guys are now cool,” I say after he bangs the door shut.
“So am I. It makes things easier on the family front,” he says with a slight shrug.
He starts walking, and I pull him back to me by his elbow.
He spins around. “Aren’t we done here?”
I slip my hands into my pocket. “No, we aren’t. I swear to God, Cash, if you do anything,anything,to Wren again, I’ll destroy you. And I won’t even be sorry. You know I mean that.” My voice is low but forceful.
He presses his lips together, and his eyes blink rapidly.
“I mean it,” I repeat.
He glances at me then shuffles to lean against my car. “I know you do. Jesus. I get why you think that, but I promise I’m not being two-faced. I admit that her gentle nature irritated me at the beginning.” He exhales. “I felt resentful of what I considered her sweetness. It was an annoying weakness – or so I thought.”
“That's one of the first things I noticed about her, too.”
“Yeah, it’s pretty loud. And you know how my life has never been sheltered. So I was bitter, and something about her irked me.”
“Why didn't you take it out on your dad who deserved it? It's all his fault, after all.”
“I know he and Sandra deserve all of the slack, but my eyes would still see red every time I look at her. My heart was convinced she was the reason for everything.”
“Everything what?”
He sighs. “Just, all of it. If she hadn’t been born, my dad would have walked away from Sandra for good. If he had walked away, my parents would still be married. And the obnoxious sweet nature she had was like rubbing it in my face. She got my dad for a father but got the benefit of growing up without my dumb ass dad as her father. Look, it probably doesn’t make sense. Anyway, I know better now.”
I consider what he is saying. He seems honest and full of conviction. I have to take a page out of Wren’s book and give him the benefit of the doubt.
Speaking of Wren, I hear her voice at that moment. “Hunter, Cash?” It comes from a way off. Sounds like she is looking for us.
I step onto the curb and see her walking towards me, hands in her coat pockets.
“What’s taking you guys so long?” she asks once she’s close enough.
“Just catching up on hockey.” I slip an arm around her waist.
“Is that true, Cash?”
“Yeah. Haven’t seen my best friend in a while since you’ve been hogging him.”
She laughs. It rings through the night air, past the sound of revelers, car horns and distant barking dogs.
“You sound just like him.” She elbows my side. “All he does nowadays is whine about how much I text, talk and hang out with you.”
Cash and I exchange a look which she misses.
Wren asks me to escort her back to the bar. I walk her in and give her my card to pay for their drinks before I go back to finish my pending conversation outside.
“So where were we?” I ask Cash once I'm outside again.
This time we sit inside the car, for privacy as much as warmth. He’s in the driver’s seat and I’m next to him. I don't know what Cash was on about it not being cold because it is freezing. The heater is on, and I rub my hands together.
“I've had a lot of time to think about everything, especially after she and I talked. I realized that she had suffered, too. She also lost her family as a kid, just like me. What changed my mind about her is how she could not be broken.”
I listen intently to his words. You would never think from the surface that Wren has lived a tumultuous life. She's just never let it scar her. She has a very different approach to life than me and her brother, that’s for sure. It's admirable. I respect her for it and suspect he does, too.
“She’s a tough little bird,” I say.
