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“Honey, I tried to sound supportive when we talked about the podcast so you’d get a certain impression, but I think I might’ve failed.” She sighs and sets her fork down.
“What do you mean?”
“I mean that I support whatever makes you happy, and when I really get down to the nitty gritty of why I’m leaving your father, well…we were fine. Happy. Floating through life, and then the accident happened and we were never the same again.”
“The accident?” I press.
“When he hurt Joseph at practice that day.”
“Oh, Mom,” I say softly. She doesn’t know. After all these years, she doesn’t know. And it’s high fucking time she found out what he’s capable of.
But I can’t bring myself to say the words aloud. I can’t admit even to my own mother that my father purposely hurt Joseph Bailey in some misguided attempt to protect my future.
I’ll never understand why that was the road he chose, but I no longer need to.
“It tore us away from our best friends. I haven’t spoken to Joanna in two decades, and we all know how close you and Jolene were back then. I’m just happy if you’re happy. I’m happy you found her and reconnected. You’re getting the second chance you deserved.” She picks up a roll and starts to butter it while she talks. “You know, I always blamed your father for what happened, and when Joseph put the skids on making any changes to the bar, part of me didn’t hate him the way I should have. I understood it, and I felt like your father had it coming.” She shrugs. “It seemed like karma doing its magic, and I suppose I should’ve left your father back then. I thought about it, but I held on. For you, for your brothers. For myself, because it was easier than leaving.”
“So why now?” I ask.
She sets down her buttered roll and draws in a deep breath. “Because he’s doing what he thinks he has to do to protect you again, and I will not stand by and watch him pull you from the woman you love again.”
My brows dip. “What’s he doing?”
She clears her throat, and her eyes dart around a little.
“Mom…what’s he doing?” I repeat.
She finally squares her shoulders and looks me dead in the eye. “He’s been working with that Ryan Rivera from VG-oh-three. And there’s another man who was at our house a few days ago when your father thought I was going out. I’m not sure what his name is. Jarrod? Jerry? Jeremy? Anyway—”
“Jeremy?” I repeat, interrupting her.
She squints a little. “I think that’s right.”
“Shit,” I mutter, and I pull my phone out of my pocket to send Jolene a quick text, but I stare at it a beat, not quite sure what to write or how to warn her that her ex may be working with the man who was successful in harassing her right out of her job.
“What? Who is Jeremy?”
“Jolene’s ex.”
“Why would he be working with the reporter?”
“They share a son, and Jolene has been trying to sue for full parental rights. He’s feeding Rivera lies and making sure Jolene’s name looks like shit in the media so no judge will grant that to her,” I say. I stare at my phone, not sure how to tell her this when all I want is for Jonah to be happy with his mother.
“Oh, God. That’s awful. And your father is feeding them both. He’s a loose cannon, and I have no idea what he’s capable of doing next. I was always the one who did my best to keep him from acting like an idiot, but this time…I couldn’t. I tried to stop him, and he wouldn’t stop. It’s like something snapped in him when we moved here, and he’s not the man I married all those years ago.” She’s turning visibly upset, and I get up and squeeze her shoulder.
“This isn’t your fault, Mom.”
She pats my hand where it lies on her shoulder. “Thank you, honey. What can I do to help?”
I shake my head. “Nothing. I need to go find Dad and get him to stop this nonsense.”
“Let me come with you.”
I shake my head. “I don’t want you in the crossfire of this. Stay here. I’ll be back soon.”
“If he’s not at home, he’ll be at the Royal Palms in the poker room.”
“Thanks. I’ll start there.” I know my father, and I know he sure as shit isn’t sitting at home alone when Vegas is right here at his fingertips.
