Page 44 of Love.V2
“Do not bring Mom into this.”
He kept rolling as if I’d never spoken. “Pregnant with you so young, and the only job I could get was mopping the fucking floors at that manufacturing plant. But I did it for her, so she could stay in school and get her high school degree. How does she repay me? Doesn’t give college a second look. Just starts fucking around with acrylic.”
“Dad—”
“I scratched and clawed for every raise, every promotion, so you could have shoes. So your mom could stay home with you and work on her art. Janitor to CEO, Dylan. All for her. For my family. And how did she repay me? Fucking left the minute it didn’t suit her anymore.”
“Tess isn’t Mom.” I knew enough about both of my parents’ failings to at least know I was right about that.
“Isn’t she?”
His words woke a small, wounded piece of myself. In the first few days after Tess left, those same thoughts haunted me as I lay alone and angry in the bed that used to be ours.
“When you got that big house of yours? Million-dollar condo near downtown? Didn’t you tell me she had nothing to do with buying that place? Barely looked at it? You did that for her, Dylan. That girl who grew up sleeping in a trailer park, if she was lucky. You gave her that home, and what did she do to repay you?”
I didn’t respond. We both knew the answer. She’d left. She’d left without saying a word. Like none of it had ever mattered.
Like I hadn’t mattered.
I stumbled to my feet, jostling the table. “I have to go.”
“I’m just trying to look out for you, son. Learn from my mistakes, alright?”
“What do you think I’m trying to do?” I snapped. The server glanced over from where she was bussing another table. My eyes shut, head shaking, as I reached into my back pocket for my wallet. “All my life, you’ve told me the best thing to happen to you was when they made you CEO at the plant. Thebestthing.”
I fished a twenty out of my wallet and threw it on the table.
“What about me, Dad? What about Grant and Gracie? What do you think it does to your kids to know we don’t even come close to first place with you?” His eyebrows crumpled, but now it was my turn to barrel on. “Tess and I have both made mistakes, but I will not repeat yours. There is more to life than work. More than your all-holy, C-suite position that, by the way, they’d fill tomorrow if your plane fell out ofthe sky.Learn from your mistakes? All of this,all of it, is to prevent me from making the biggest mistake you ever made.”
“Dylan—”
“Have a good flight. And lay the hell off the twins. They’re kids, Dad. Let them be.”
I turned and left before he could speak again.
***
“I thought you were the UberEats person!”
I’d driven like a bat out of hell, squeezing the steering wheel so tightly, my fingers were still numb. The image in front of me almost made it worth it. “You answer the door like this?” I bit my lip to hold in a laugh.
If Tess’s face could have creased into a frown, it would have, but a layer of thick green goop froze it in place. A thorough sweep down her body got even more interesting. The fabric of her shirt was just shy of sheer, and she had on the world’s smallest pair of sleep shorts.
If I recalled correctly, the silky outfit came as part of a matching set with a soft knit sweater she liked to wear around the house. I didn’t know where the sweater was now, but when she stepped closer, I could almost see straight down her shirt. If I ever saw the sweater again, I’d burn it.
“Usually not, but you were beating the door down. I thought there was a delivery emergency or something.”
Ah. I had been sort of pounding on her door, hadn’t I? “Sorry about that. I, uh, just left dinner with my dad.Abruptly.”
Her eyebrows drew down as much as they could. She stepped even closer, her front brushing against mine. I could definitely see down there now, but I kept my gaze on her face. She was mine, but she wasn’tmineright now.
“Are you okay? Did he say something…?” She was too polite to ask outright if he’d been a dickhead, even though he had been, and she probably knew it. My dad wasn’t her favorite person, so she’d avoided him as much as possible over the last few years.
I grimaced. I should have told him off sooner. Protected her from him more. Another failing.
Maybe you wanted her to hear that from someone. Someone who wasn’t you.
I had to get a hold of that spiteful voice in my brain. I’d spent the entire ride over here trying to calm down, reminding myself that I wasn’t in Chicago to point fingers, just fix my relationship. My life.
