Page 175 of Contentious

“I thought I just did.”

“I mean exactly that—if we had it to do over, we would’ve done everything differently. Maybe add that while you can’t change the past, you hope that you might make the future better for all of us or some bullshit like that.”

“I’ll do that. Thank you for the advice, son.”

“No charge.”

Corbin chuckled. “How’re you feeling today?”

“A little less like roadkill than I did last night.”

“Well, that’s welcome news. You scared the hell out of us. Twice.”

“I’m sorry about that.”

“We’re thankful that Cresley’s ex is now in custody, and hopefully, she and her son can put this difficult time behind them.”

“They’re trying, but it won’t happen overnight.”

“You seem to care for them very much.”

“I do.”

“I’m happy for you and for Julian, too.”

“Thank you.”

“I’ll let you get back to resting and recovering. Let me know if there’s anything I can do for you, and I hope you, Cresley and her son can come up next Sunday. We’d love to have you there.”

“I’ll let you know.”

“Take care, son.”

“Hey, Dad?”

“Yes?”

“I just wanted to say that I appreciate it took some cojones to address the elephant in the room in front of a hostile crowd, and I respect that you’re owning the mistakes of the past. Despite how it might seem at times, we want you and Mom to be happy, too. We’re just not sure how we feel about you being happy together.”

“That means a lot to me, Carson. Thank you for saying it. I love you, and I’m very happy you’re still here with us.”

“I’m happy to still be here. Love you, too.”

He and his father hadn’t said those words to each other in more than twenty years, and they felt rusty coming out of his mouth now, but as he said it, he discovered he meant it. He did love the guy, even if he often wanted to throttle him.

Chapter Thirty-Two

Carson stood up from the kitchen stool and gave his wounded body a second to catch up. Then he hobbled into the living room to see what Cresley and Ty were up to. Ty was snuggled up to her as they watched videos on her phone.

“How was the meeting?” Cresley asked when he settled on the sofa next to them.

“Enlightening. We’re invited to my mother’s place in Santa Barbarba for swimming and dinner next Sunday.”

“I love to swim,” Ty said. “Can we go?”

“We’ll see,” Carson said.

“Why do parents say that? ‘We’ll see’ almost always means no.”