Page 18 of Saving You

He didn’t even know this kid, after all. He didn’t know anyone except Grady and Oz, and Oz wasn’t always thrilled with his presence.

So he took his time and then felt like shit when he saw half the street was already taken up by cars. He found a spot in a cul-de-sac not too far from the house, and he grabbed the bag he and Ina had picked out for Sarah. They’d gone to the craft store and found a little bracelet-making kit that didn’t look like it would be too much of a mess, though Ridge was a pretty shit judge at those things.

Once upon a time, he thought making homemade slime would be a reasonable craft. His carpets had never recovered.

But he was more confident knowing this didn’t have any sticky parts or random mixing ingredients, so he hooked the bag over his wrist and started up the street. He could hear music playing as he got closer, then the scent of a grill going.Eventually, there was chatter coming over the back fence, and he debated about going to the front door before realizing the side gate was open.

Ridge swallowed back nerves. He’d been in town for a couple of years now, but he’d never really integrated. It took him way too long to accept Adele’s offer to join their dads club, and even now, he still didn’t feel confident strolling into his house the way the other guys did.

His fingers felt like they were shaking, so he kept them in tight fists as he rounded the corner, and his gaze filled with a sea of strangers. None of the guys were there. He knew most of them had given Grady the “We’ll see if I can make it” excuse, and Grady knew they were saying it to be polite.

God, was he supposed to have done the same thing? Was it social protocol to decline the invite, and he was the only jackass who came to a family gathering?

“Ridge! Hell yeah!” Grady’s voice boomed across the yard, and a moment later, he was there in Ridge’s space with his big, shit-eating grin. “I’m so fuckin’ stoked you’re here.”

Ridge managed a smile in spite of his stress. “Yeah. No one else showed up?”

“Those fuckers never do. They always throw me to the wolves. Well, Adele has a legit excuse, but no one else does, and I’m always stuck with these golf-playing CEO motherfuckers.”

Ridge burst into helpless laughter. “It can’t be that bad.”

“I’ve seen three ascots today, and all of these guys are wearing polo shirts,” Grady said, leaning down and dropping his voice. He ran his hand over his faded Green Day band T-shirt. “I can’t with these dudes. One of them asked me about my 401(k).”

Ridge grimaced. He had one—he just didn’t know what he was supposed to do with it other than let his payroll department throw money at it twice a month. “Yikes.”

“Yeah. Come on, you can hang by the grill with me. You know Oz, right? He does a thing with your kid?” Grady yammered, dragging Ridge by the wrist up the deck stairs.

Ridge’s heartbeat kicked up a few notches. Oz was the actual reason he was here. Ridge had almost said no. He liked Grady, but not necessarily enough to put up with the people in Oz’s family. But Oz had asked him to come, and Ridge quickly learned he wasn’t capable of telling that man no.

“He’s been back and forth doing shit for my mother-in-law. Have you met her?”

Ridge shook his head and spied the gift table as they walked by it. He managed to slip the bag on the edge before Grady manhandled him into an Adirondack chair and shoved a beer in his face. “Uh. Thanks. And no? Oz doesn’t exactly invite me for family dinner.”

“Right. Shit.” Grady rubbed the back of his neck and glanced around again, but they were alone up there. The party crowd—mostly adults and a handful of kids—were milling around the lawn. There was a bouncy castle in the back and a bunch of tables set up with white tablecloths fluttering in the breeze and bright pink, flowery centerpieces.

Nothing like the knock-off Disney Princess shit he’d done for Ina. He felt suddenly cheap—like some dad imposter who still didn’t know what he was doing.

“You should know that I’m not into that anti-ASL shit, okay?” Grady’s voice was tense. “I took sign language in college, and I’ve been trying to keep up on it, you know. Because Oz uses it. Like, the dude is Deaf, and they just…” He trailed off. “I don’t get it. Alora knows some, and she used to use it every now and again, but after she got pregnant, she freaked out and banned me from teaching the girls.”

Ridge frowned. “That’s kind of weird, dude. Hormones or what?”

“I think she was freaked-out that we might have a deaf kid,” Grady said with a shrug, and Ridge wanted to hit something. Like having a deaf kid was a curse? “She kept repeating over and over that Oz’s deafness wasn’t genetic, like she was trying to convince herself. I don’t know. She was in a total fuckin’ panic for all nine months. She found out this one antibiotic could cause deafness, and she started asking her doctor if our baby would survive without it if she got sick.”

Ridge felt white-hot anger bubbling in his gut. “She’d rather risk your kid’s life than have a child like her brother?”

Grady snapped his tongs, then set them down. “Trust me, dude. It was the first of many fights. I swear to God, sometimes it feels like she’s preventing the girls from learning because she thinks if they become fluent enough, it’ll be a self-fulfilling prophecy.”

“Yeah, because letting kids who can’t hear access their natural language is the worst thing in the world,” Ridge said flatly.

Grady swallowed thickly. “Hey. I think your kid is amazing, and I don’t agree with her. Believe me. Things between us have been strained lately with the way she’s been acting.”

Ridge let out a slow breath. Part of him wanted to ask Grady why her shitty attitude wasn’t a deal breaker in their marriage, but that wasn’t fair. He had no room to judge what it took to make a relationship function.

But at the same time, if anyone treated his daughter like that, there wasn’t a chance in hell he’d ever speak to them again. “I don’t really get how people can be that way. I mean, your sister grew up with Oz. I don’t see how she can?—”

“It’s not worth the headache,” interrupted a voice from right beside Ridge. He startled and looked up to find Oz standing at his shoulder, rolling a beer between his hands. ‘My sister will never change her mind.’

Ridge pulled a face. ‘It’s not fair.’

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