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“Decker and I are just friends. I actually didn’t know that he knew Felix and Clover at the start. You know he’s a former cop—now he’s a private investigator. Well, he tracked me down because one of his clients was looking for me. He didn’t say anything the other night because I told him not to. I wanted to be the one to tell you first.”
“Who is his client?” Dad demands, pulling his feet down from the coffee table in full dad alertness. “I knew something was up when he said you pulled a gun on him. I fucking knew it.”
Ah, yes. “Okay, that was a misunderstanding. I caught him following me,” I explain.
“Who is his client?” Dad repeats.
“Apparently Wade had a daughter,” I say, bringing my eyes to Mom. “And she has been looking for me and wants to meet me. She couldn’t find me because I changed my last name, so she hired Decker to find me for her.”
My mom looks like she’s going to be ill. “I don’t know about this, Cara. What does she want with you? We have nothing do to with any of them.”
“So you have another sister?” Natalie says, more to herself than me. “I don’t know how I feel about this.”
“I do. I don’t fuckin’ like it,” Dad announces, shaking his head. “These are not good people, Cara. I wouldn’t trust her.”
“She might not be anything like Wade,” I say, standing up for her. “I mean, she might, and yes, he actually stuck around to raise her, but don’t you think I should at least give her a chance and find out? And Wade is dead. He doesn’t have any influence over her anymore.”
“He’s dead?” Mom asks, eyes widening. “I had no idea.”
“It doesn’t matter if he’s dead, he still brought her up,” Dad continues, sharing a look with Mom. “What do you think? She wants money?”
“I don’t know,” Mom replies, still looking a little shocked at my announcement. “I think I would have just preferred this meeting to be about her dating Decker.”
I roll my eyes. “I know you guys are wary. I am too. But I am going to meet her and form my own opinion. Her name is Constance, and I already set up a meeting next weekend.”
Silence.
“I don’t know—” my mom starts.
“Cara, are you sure?” Natalie asks.
“You sure as fuck aren’t going alone,” Dad booms over the other two. “You have a kind heart, Cara, and I won’t have anyone taking advantage of that. It seems I already fucked up by thinking Rhett would do right by you, and he hasn’t. No one else is hurting you now—no one is going to get the chance.”
“So what, you all think that she has bad blood and is going to screw me over? You know I have that same blood, right?” I fire back, scowling.
“You are nothing like Wade and his family,” Mom says gently, reaching out to take my hand.
“And she might not be either,” I point out. “I had Decker do a background check on her. I’m not going into this blind. She’s fine. She’s not hiding anything. She has a few debts but nothing out of the ordinary.”
“We just don’t want anyone to hurt you, Cara. I’m sure you can see it from our perspective,” Mom says as she puts a hand on Dad’s arm to calm him.
“I know, and I love you all for it, but this girl is my half sister, and I want to meet her, at least once, to see what she has to say. Clover will be with me, so I’m going to be safe, all right?”
“Decker did a background check for you? Who hasn’t he done a check on? Are you sure we can trust him?” Dad asks, frowning. “I’m going to do a damn check on him, see how he likes it.”
I’ve already decided that I’m doing this, with or without their approval, because it’s something I need to do for me. I’m the one who is related to Constance, not them, so they don’t know how I’m feeling. I’m not stupid—I’m not going to do anything I’m uncomfortable with, and if she ends up not being a good person or having an ulterior motive, then simple. I won’t see her again.
Everyone deserves a chance, and she might be nothing like Wade.
I know I’m not.
I trust Decker’s opinion, and he thinks that I should meet her too. I need to do this and they don’t have to understand, but if they were in my situation, they would do the same thing.
I know that they would.
I turn to my dad. “I’ll be fine. Know that you both raised me to be smart enough to know red flags when I see them, all right? And Clover will be there. You know she won’t let anything happen.”
I’m an adult now and this is my call.
