Page 84 of Whiskey Chase
“He told me I was nothing. And you know what? He was right. Because I’m just like him. He made sure Bowie knew he’d never be good enough for him no matter how hard he tried. And Jameson? He shut that boy down every time he came in for a hug, every time he asked to go fishing, every time he made that fucker a special drawing. Jonah Bodine crushed his spirit, Scarlett, and the sooner you realize what a monster he was, the better.”
I had tears spilling down my cheeks now. We’d danced around this topic for years, neither one of us ever daring to say all of the words.
“He was sick, Gibs. Sick. Alcoholism is a fucking disease like cancer or Alzheimer’s.”
“He had a damn choice in the way he treated us.”
“Did you deserve better?” I asked, my voice breaking and echoing around the metal walls. “Of course, you did. Wealldid. We deserved a dad who would be there for us. One who’d coach the soccer team or cook dinner or even just listen when we spoke. One who didn’t look at each one of us as the ball and chain to a life he never wanted. But we didn’t have that. We had him.”
“And he’s gone now. Finally,” Gibson spat out.
“Jesus, Gibs. He was our father.”
“He wasnothingto me. And now? Now, you expect me to give him the benefit of the doubt and say maybe this drunken asshole didn’t have something to do with that girl’s disappearance? Then how the fuck did that sweater end up in his house?”
“I don’t know, but I believe—”
“Goddamn it, Scarlett!” Gibson snarled. “Stop it. Just stop defending him!”
“Jameson doesn’t think he did it—”
Gibson rounded on me. “They know?”
I nodded. “I told them when they came to apologize to me for being fucking lousy brothers and dumping all of the responsibility on me!” It wasn’t fair, but I was tired of being fair. I was tired of brushing things under the rug and hoping they’d get better. “You saddled me with him for all these years because you couldn’t handle dealing with him.”
“Fuck you, Scarlett.”
“Fuck you back, Gibson.”
I hopped off my stool and flipped him the bird for good measure. “You have fun up here in your lair avoiding life while I clean all of this up for you. As usual!”
I didn’t hear his response because I slammed the door so hard the garage doors rattled. I’d expected it to go this way. But that didn’t mean I was happy about being right just this once.
33
Devlin
“You can’t just will her to appear, man,” Jonah said as I peered through the deck doors at the bright mid-morning. It was Day Three of no Scarlett.
“Don’t you have something to do?” I asked mildly, knowing full well he didn’t.
Between the two of us spending just about all day, every day, together, we were entering territory where someone’s face was going to get beat.
One of us needed a job. Or my fucking girlfriend needed to come back. She was still responding to texts. But she wouldn’t pick up the damn phone, and she wouldn’t talk to me about what was wrong. That wasn’t like her. Scarlett Bodine didn’tnottalk about what was on her mind.
I’d given her about as much space as I was willing.
“I’ve got nothing but time on my hands,” Jonah said airily, but I could hear the irritation in his tone.
We needed to get out of the house.
“You want to get out of here? Maybe get a pepperoni roll?” I suggested.
“Yes and yes.”
We took Jonah’s car, a late model Mustang, and dropped the top to cruise into Bootleg. In the sunshine, we drove down crowded Main Street and turned onto Bathtub Gin Alley to complete the circuit. There wasn’t much to Bootleg. Most of the retail spaces occupied those two streets. And it was a busy day in town with tourists enjoying the charm.
We ordered pepperoni rolls to go from the Moonshine Diner. It seemed a crime to avoid the fine early summer weather, so we took the food down to the lakefront. There were people here. Families on the sandy beach. Kids splashing in the bath water warm lake. Teenage girls sunning themselves and giggling over the antics of sunburnt teenage boys.
