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“I love you both very much. Can you at least take a few moments to talk with him? He’s your father whether the two of you want to say he is or not. He’s a different man than the one you knew.”
“No, Ava, what he did is unforgivable. You don’t know, Ava. Come on,” Colton said then turned to walk away.
“Ava, come with us now. Please.” Evan reached his hand out to her. She glanced back at Jeremiah.
“Go,” Jeremiah whispered. She knew he was hurting as she walked away and Evan pulled her against him as if protecting her from harm. She didn’t know what she was going to do, but these men needed help and she would find a way to help them, just as they had helped her.
* * * *
“Hey, is everything all right?” Carl and Richie asked Colton and Evan as they walked through the hallway and into the main room.
“Fine,” Colton barked out. He knew he probably looked as angry as he felt, but his concern for Ava’s safety was first.
His brother had an arm wrapped around her waist as he guided her through the crowd.
“Ava, everything all right?” Carl asked her next, and she nodded her head then looked behind her at Colton. She was upset with him. She really didn’t know how bad their father was or what he had done to them.
“I’m leaving now. I told Susanna earlier,” Ava told Carl and he nodded his head.
“I said everything was fine,” Colton replied to Carl, and Carl squinted his eyebrows at Colton.
“I’m asking because I care. I’m not trying to be nosey.”
Colton stopped short and so did Evan and Ava.
“It turns out that our old man is still alive and well and apparently friends with Ava.”
“Shit, that’s good news, isn’t it? I mean, you thought he was dead,” Richie said.
“He’s dead to us. We want nothing to do with him,” Evan added. Carl and Richie both seemed to get the message.
“You’ll work it out. You’ve got us here if you need to talk,” Carl offered.
“Nothing to talk about. We’re leaving. Have a good night.” Colton gave his brother a tap on his shoulder, and Evan guided Ava out of Dixie Chix.
As the warm summer air hit his skin, he saw Ava holding herself as they headed to the truck. Evan opened the door to let her in.
“Here, you drive,” Col
ton told Evan, who looked at him strangely then shrugged his shoulders before running around the front of the truck and getting in on the driver’s side. Ava scooted toward the middle of the seat and stared straight ahead.
She was upset. It bothered him to know that his father spoke to her. He hated the man so much. He was the reason Evan and him had joined the service and disappeared for years.
They drove out of the parking lot, and Ava remained staring out the front window.
Colton reached for her hand and she took an uneasy breath.
“Ava, I don’t want you talking to him. Not ever.”
“Me either, Ava,” Evan added firmly.
She looked at Colton and shook her head. “You are being stubborn and close-minded. Perhaps there is more to what happened years ago than two teenage boys could have understood.”
“Is that what kind of lies he was spewing to you back there?” Colton pointed his thumb backward and away from the direction Evan was driving.
“Yeah, suddenly it’s our fault that he was a drunk and a loser who left our mother to die and her sons to handle the mess? We were kids ourselves, damn it.” Evan raised his voice then slammed his hand on the steering wheel.
“He’s trying to push you away from us,” Colton added. She turned to look at him. She seemed calm and almost as if she was biting her tongue.
