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“Oh, I'm going there. We’re going there,” Ricky spat back with as much venom in his tone that Corey had.
He shook his head and refused to look at Ricky. He wanted to go down that path, fine. Didn’t mean he had to listen.
“When Mom died I gave you space. You left the hospital by yourself. I let you have time to yourself. I thought we both needed time to ourselves. If I would’ve known you were gonna get high, I would’ve never left you alone. It broke me as much as you when she died.”
“Except you were stronger. Got it. You’ve always been the stronger one.” Corey groaned, rubbing the back of his head after Ricky slapped him hard. “What the hell, dude?”
“That is not what I was saying. What I’m saying is you retreated, I let you. It led you down a path I’ve hated ever since. A path you pulled yourself out of on your own. I’m so damn proud of you for that. But I’m not going to sit here and make the same mistakes over again. So tell me what happened with Genevieve.”
He fiddled with the bottle, not wanting to talk about itandwanting to spill his guts. About everything. About how much he loved her. About how much he screwed up. About how much he feared he’d never make it right again between them.
Yet, Ricky wasn’t one to be deterred. He never had been. Never would be. Ricky waited patiently, expecting him to spill his beans, or he wouldn’t be leaving until he did.
“I tried to make a nice Mother’s Day breakfast for her this morning. She didn’t appreciate it.”
Ricky made a weird sound in his throat, yet didn’t say anything. Corey waited at least a good minute before he finally looked at him.
“What, you got nothing to say to that? Absolutely nothing?”
“I’m waiting for you tell me the parts you didn’t add.”
He groaned, running a hand down his face. “She wanted to visit Melanie’s grave. Honor her, too. Thinks she Amelie’s mom or something.”
“She is.”
“That woman gave her up the moment she abandoned Amelie. You said so yourself numerous times.”
Ricky nodded. “I did. But that doesn’t mean she isn’t her mother. She gave birth to her. If she were alive right now, I’d make her work for her right back to see Amelie if she wanted that.” Ricky leaned forward. “But she’s not alive. She doesn’t have that chance. She made a choice, I imagine a hard choice, but one she thought would give Amelie her best life. She OD’d, Corey. That’s how she died! She was raising a little girl under the influence of drugs, yet was levelheaded enough to know that wasn’t right. That she couldn’t give Amelie the best life like that. She knew you could.”
“How? How could she possibly know that? I was as far gone as her when we had sex. We were both so messed up.”
Ricky shrugged. “I don’t know. We’ll never know. You knew Melanie during her worst days. You only knew her body, not what was in her mind. Genevieve knows everything. They grew up together. She sees Melanie beyond that messed-up life. It sounds to me she wanted to pay respects to that part of her, not the rough parts.”
Corey stared at the beer bottle in his lap. “When you’d get so deep? Doling out advice and shit like you’re a damn therapist.”
They shared a look as they chuckled together.
“It’s my job. Bartender therapist. You are holding a beer.”
Another short laugh left Corey’s lips. Laughing felt good. Foreign after the emotional day he’d been having.
“Does this mean you’re warming up to Genevieve?”
“Yeah, I guess.” Ricky tossed his left shoulder up in a careless shrug. “Jezebelle tells me sometimes I’m too hard on Genevieve. That she’s made up for her past deeds. That if you can forgive her, I can, too.”
“I care about her. Like, she means the world to me.” He couldn’t quite say the ‘L’ word out loud, even to his brother.
“I know you do.”
“I messed up with her. I’m not saying I can magically forgive Melanie, even if you are making a little bit of sense. I’m not ready to forgive Melanie. But I messed up, and I don’t know how to fix that.”
“Talking to her is a start. Telling her how you feel might help. You wanted to treat her like Amelie’s mom today and yet you’re not even dating.” Ricky cocked a brow. “What is she to you? If I don’t even know, how can she?”
“When’s Jezebelle getting back from her parents’?”
Ricky checked his phone for the time. “Hopefully, in another hour or so. She went there for lunch. I expected her back by now.”
“I hope she’s not upset you stayed with me instead of going with her.”
