Page 73 of My One
He stopped me by grabbing my arm. “I know you’re pissed at them for keeping this from you, but you’ve known them forever. They care about you.”
“Do they?” I knew they did, but I was pissed and questioning everything.
“Of course they do.”
I sighed and stared up at the sunset. “I know.”
“I’m sure they’re grilling your wife right now. You need to get back in there. Let’s get this over with.”
“But dinner—”
“Fuck dinner.”
“It sounds like you want to know more than I do,” I stated.
“I want to know what they’ve been hiding too. When I say you’re like my brother, I mean it.”
I took another deep breath. “Okay. You’re right.”
He clapped me on the shoulder. “Let’s rip the Band-Aid off.”
“It just fucking sucks.” We started walking back toward the house.
“I know, but we don’t know what they know.”
Easton was right. We didn’t know what they knew. “Okay, let’s do this.”
We walked back into the house. Everyone was still in the living room except Cheyenne, which was probably for the best. I didn’t know what was going to happen. The vibe in the room was tense as I returned to my seat next to Nicole. She moved closer to me, so there was no space between us. I needed that. I needed to know she was there for me. Being glued to my side meant we were one. She had always been my one, and I knew that whatever Jimmy and Jane admitted, Nicole would make me feel better.
Jimmy cleared his throat. “Nicole told us that you found a VHS tape?” I nodded. “She wouldn’t tell us what was on it though.”
I sighed and closed my eyes. Before I could respond, a timer in the kitchen went off. Everyone looked at Jane. “Dinner’s ready.” She shrugged.
All gazes moved back to me as though asking if I wanted to continue. “We can wait.”
“Okay.” Jane stood. “Everyone move to the table.”
The entire time we ate the miso-glazed salmon and fried rice, no one spoke. The tension was thick, and it was the quickest meal we’d ever had as afamily.
As a family.
I had to keep reminding myself that Jimmy and Jane had never done anything to hurt me. They’d taken me in numerous times when I hadn’t wanted to go home and deal with my father hounding me about how to improve in baseball.
“Peanut,” Easton said to his daughter. “Can you go up to your room again? I’ll call you when it’s time to leave.”
Cheyenne looked around the table, and then shrugged because she probably didn’t care about anything that had to do with usoldpeople. “Okay.”
She started to pick up her plate, but Jane stopped her. “It’s okay. I’ll get it.” Cheyenne looked around the table again, and without another word, turned and went up the stairs.
“I’m just going to say it,” I said as soon as C.C. was out of earshot. “The tape was of some birthday of mine, and you”—I looked at Jane—“were arguing with my dad.” Jane looked at Jimmy. She didn’t seem too surprised by what I’d said. “It was about him not being my real father.”
Jane closed her eyes, not saying anything.
“There’s no sense in keeping this from him any longer,” Jimmy stated to Jane.
“Please,” I begged. Nic squeezed my knee to tell me she was there. “Just tell me.”
Jane nodded, still not meeting my gaze, but it was Jimmy who spoke. “You know we’ve known your parents a long time.” I nodded. “We’ve known them since we were all in college together.” I knew that they’d been friends forever, but I didn’t realize it went back that far.
