Page 64 of The Chad Next Door
“I’m starting to think thiswas a bad idea.” I take a step away from my truck, accidentally stepping right into Hope. I grab her before she crashes to the ground, wincing. “Sorry.”
Rolling her eyes, she gets steady on her feet again and then pokes me in the chest. “You’re the one who thought he should get involved, and now that you’ve texted Houston about going out to lunch, you can’t back down now or he’ll think it’s something terrible!”
I grab hold of her hand and hold it over my heart. “What if you come with me?” Mostly, I don’t want to leave her side now that I have her back. Anytime I’ve been away from her, disastrous things have happened.
Her eyes go wide. “You want me to come to your heart-to-heart lunch with your famous brother? You wouldn’t even introduce me to him last night.”
Mm, that was one of my better decisions. I lean in to tease a kiss against her lips, which she allows with a sigh. “Maybe I’m trying to give you a reason to stay in my life.”
“I don’t need a reason, Bigfoot. I’m here.”
I hope she means that; I’m not sure I’ll be strong enough to let her go if she doesn’t.
“Are you ever going to tell me why you’re so suspicious of Houston’s girlfriend? Because they were adorable last night, and he’s clearly into her.”
My phone buzzes before I can answer, a number I don’t recognize, and I reluctantly answer the call in case it’s something to do with work. “Briggs.”
“Chad? It’s…it’s me. Your dad.”
I hang up and curse under my breath. He’s out?
Hope frowns. “What was that?”
“My dad’s out of prison,” I say right as he tries calling again. The words come out strangled, mostly because I have no idea how to react right now. Did I know his sentence was almost up? I didn’t care, so I didn’t pay attention.
How did he get my number? He must have looked up my business and gone through the questionnaire I set up. He would have had to answer a specific way for the website to decide he needed immediate access to me. It’s the only way it would have given him my info.
How many tries did it take him?
“Chad?” Taking my hand, Hope guides me to the porch and forces me to sit as the call goes to voicemail. “You okay?”
Well, my hands are shaking, so probably not. “I didn’t think I would ever talk to him again.”
“Technically you didn’t.”
I manage a small smile to match the grin she’s giving me. I’m so glad she’s here right now so I’m not stuck dealing with this new development by myself.
My phone buzzes again, this time with a text.
Unknown number: I want to talk. That’s it.
I feel both nauseous and amped up as I stare at his words, which is a terrible combination. “What do I do?”
Hope laughs. “You’re asking me? You’re the one who always has all the answers.”
“Not this time.”
This man left me—a fifteen-year-old—in charge of two seven-year-old siblings. I had no idea what I was doing, and that responsibility changed the course of my whole life. Who knows what my life could have looked like if he’d been the father he was supposed to be?
Another text comes through, but I refuse to look at it. Hope takes my phone, reading silently. “He says he’s sorry,” she tells me gently. “And that he can never make up for what he did but he wants to move forward.”
I clench my hands into fists on my thighs. Do I want that? Do I want to move forward? It’s been more than twenty years since the man forced me to become a parent, and I haven’t spoken a word to him since the day he was arrested. Not a great place to end things.
“What would you do?” I fix my gaze on Hope, silently begging her to help me process this.
She winces. “I would give anything to talk to my dad again.”
“But he was a good dad.”
