Page 67 of Back To You

I exhale, feeling like Annie and I deserve to rid ourselves from this night that has haunted us for all theseyears; that starts with confronting Devin and getting this weight off our shoulders.

My phone buzzes on the desk next to my laptop, bringing me back to the moment.

I glance at the screen, seeing a text from Caleb and a text from Bennett. Caleb’s text being a reminder that I promised to talk to my father today about my decision. Bennett’s text wishing me luck about the former.

I pick up my phone, ready to get this conversation over it, when my phone rings.

“Hey, Ben, I just saw your text, and no I haven’t talked to him yet.”

“Figured maybe you could use a pep talk before you dialed up our dear old dad,” he jokes, and it genuinely makes me laugh. I like to think that I got my positivity and laid-back demeanor from Bennett, Caleb being the more responsible and on-top-of-things as the oldest brother. “Caleb said you still haven’t called him.”

“It’s barely nine in the morning, my day started an hour ago.”

“You know Caleb, always the go-getter. Plus, I wouldn’t blame you for putting it off. Speaking from experience, it’s not an easy conversation to have.”

When Bennett told my dad that he was quitting law school, I was still in high school, and I remember thinking a gun went off for how loud my dad’s voice boomed at my brother. It was an all-out screaming match for hours, both going taking turns throwing insults until Caleb got the two of them to calm down.

I haven’t seen Bennett and my father in the same room together since that night, and I doubt that will be changing anytime soon.

I’m not worried, though. I’m not Daniel Owen’s biological son like Bennett and like Caleb. They were theones who were bound to follow his footsteps, not me. I’m prepared for an uncomfortable conversation that further proves I’m a disappointment in the eyes of my father, but it’s nothing I’m not used to.

I’ve made my peace with it. I have the family that matters to me, and what Daniel Owens thinks of me is no longer a concern of mine—which is exactly why I need to stop putting off this call.

“I’m not worried,” I reply, “I have much more important things to deal with than how dad will take the news.”

“Is one of these important things making progress with figuring out what happened with Annie?” Bennett asks, and I don’t miss the slight teasing in his voice.

Since I met him and Jack for breakfast about a month ago, I’ve kept Bennett updated on my courtship of Annie. The last update I gave him was from Friday when she beat the shit out of Ava’s boyfriend’s truck, and I swear Bennett laughed for a whole five minutes. Partly at the situation but also at how much of a lovesick puppy I sounded like when I told him how she did it because the prick pushed me.

What happened after we went home that night, I kept to myself.

“About that,” I start, aimlessly spinning a pen I found on Emmett’s desk around my fingers. “I think I finally did it.”

“You got her back?” Bennett asks with a hopeful tone in his voice as if this affects him as much as it does me.

“I got her back, man,” I answer, a huge smile on my face. “Everything about the night she left and why she did was thrown out into the open. She apologized, even though she really didn’t have to, and I told her I was hers if she was willing to have me.”

“Congrats, little brother. I’m happy for you.”

“Thanks, Ben. We still have shit to work through considering so much has changed since the last time we were together, but I have a good feeling.”

“Me too. I’m glad to see you taking charge of your life, with Annie and this stuff with Dad. You got your whole life ahead of you, and I’m glad to see you living life foryou.”

“It feels good. And it’ll feel better once this stuff with Dad is off my shoulders, which I should really get to.”

“Right, don’t let me keep you. Just wanted to check-in. Seriously, Luke, I’m proud of you.”

My throat feels tight at the words I don’t hear often. Words I heard from Annie last night, words I’m hearing now from my brother, words I went my whole lifewishingto hear.

I clear my throat. “Thanks, I appreciate you saying that,” I say, hoping Bennett hears the sincerity in my words. “I’ll let you know how it goes with Dad,” I add before we say our goodbyes, and I hang up.

Before I lose the nerve, knowing that I won’t feel like this after hanging up on the upcoming phone call, I dial my dad at his office, figuring I’ll have a better chance of reaching him if I call him at work than on his cell.

“Owens & Son’s. This is Maria speaking. How may I help you?” I tell my dad’s assistant who’s calling, and she puts me on hold before transferring me to him. I inhale while I wait, mentally preparing myself for the disappointment I’m about to face.

The phone call clicks off hold. “Luke?” I hear my dad’s assistant say.

“Still here,” I answer.

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