Page 11 of A Little Bit Whiskey
“He and Weezer could have easily forged that document. Carter went to great lengths to make sure the love of Merlot’s life appeared to be dead for twenty-one years. Carter has the means to do anything he wants.”
“Oh, please. They wouldn’t let me date their son if there was any chance I could be related to him.” Tamsyn couldn’t believe her ears. Anna was a lot of things. A gossip. A pot stirrer. A social climber. A wannabe. She had a desire to be the center of attention. A need to be the most important person in the room. She believed being married to the police chief gave her the power to run the town. Only it didn’t.
“Dating?” Anna fanned herself. “Wait until your father hears this one.”
“Fred is not my father,” Tamsyn corrected Anna. It wasn’t meant to be mean or hurtful. Just fact. She’d never once called either one of them her parents. They were the people who raised her—and she truly adored Fred—but neither one of them were her mom or dad.
Anna had asked her on multiple occasions to call her mom, but the word could never roll off Tamsyn’s tongue.
It wasn’t that Tamsyn didn’t love or care about Anna, she did. Anna had been kind, warm, loving even toward Tamsyn growing up. But Anna lacked that maternal instinct that Tamsyn craved. Anna was more of a warm body that tucked her in at night than a stand-in for a mother. Anna went through the motions but lacked any real emotion. She’d sit and listen to Tamsyn when she’d come home from school with a problem, but Anna couldn’t provide that unconditional love a parent could. She cared more about what people thought than what was right.
Fred did better. He offered love, support, and companionship. He did more than go through the motions, but Tamsyn never truly let him completely in. At first, it was because she had this fairy-tale idea that her father would roll in on a Harley and whisk her away. But because Fred constantly asked her to stop the search, to give up on finding both her parents, and consistently taking Anna’s side on everything, Tamsyn couldn’t open her heart wholly.
“What is your beef with Weezer?” Tamsyn asked.
“Come home with me and I’ll tell you,” Anna said, glaring.
This obviously was going nowhere. “I’m staying for the wedding, but this conversation isn’t over. I want an answer because I’m not going to stop seeing Noir.”
“We’ll see about that.” Anna slipped behind the steering wheel. “I know you have the night shift. But I expect to see you for a family dinner tomorrow night. We’ll talk then.” She tugged the door closed and the engine roared to life.
Tamsyn took a step back and watched Anna drive off. She glanced over her shoulder.
Noir jogged down the steps. “Are you okay?”
“Not really.”
He wrapped his arms around her, pulling her into his chest. “Want to talk about it?”
“No.” She rested her head on his shoulder. “Do you think your mom would tell me what happened between them in the past?”
“She might, if you asked her,” Noir said. “But I’d wait until after the wedding. Merlot and Talbot are here. So is Nebbiolo and June and everyone else. It’s time to get my brother married.”
She glanced up. “I’m glad we’re out in the open, but we’re going to be the talk of this town, and that is going to be hell.”
3
TAMSYN
Tamsyn took the glass of wine that Weezer offered and made herself comfortable in the rocking chair in front of the fireplace. The wedding had gone off without any more drama. It had been a beautiful ceremony, filled with love, laughter, and family.
Something that Tamsyn wished she had and understood.
Fred and Anna had given her a roof over her head. They’d provided her with opportunities. They’d opened their home, but they hadn’t given her the one thing she desired most. It wasn’t completely their fault. In the beginning, she had resisted Anna’s affection. All Tamsyn had wanted was her mother. She’d sit by the big picture window, waiting for her mom to appear.
But that never happened.
However, Tamsyn never gave hope. Even to this day, she held on to the idea that her mom was out there, somewhere, and could return any day. It was that concept that drove a wedge between her and Anna. It was an unspoken distance, but it was there.
Tamsyn took a sip of the wine, enjoying the rich flavor. The River family sure knew how to make a good blend. She’d avoided drinking their wine for years, but now there was no reason to boycott. No reason to hold on to a grudge that didn’t exist. Carter had done nothing to her or her mother. Nor had Weezer.
Most of the River family had left. The few that remained had shuffled off into the kitchen with Noir and Carter for a card game, leaving her alone with Weezer.
“Are you sure you want to hear this story from me first?” Weezer sat on the sofa, across from Tamsyn.
Weezer was a stunning woman and a contradiction of sorts. Her nails were always perfectly manicured, her graying hair styled to perfection whenever she left the house. Her attire didn’t always match. And Weezer had a certain edge to her personality. She didn’t care what anyone thought of her and it showed in everything she did.
The people of Candlewood Falls both respected Weezer and feared her wrath. Weezer had a way of getting what she wanted, and she didn’t always play fair.
