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“June?”
“Yeah, sorry,” I say, “but I’m a little shocked by the call. I haven’t heard from you in years. How did you even get my number?” Olivia never wanted to write to me, and she didn’t try to keep in contact by phone, email, social media, or anything else. She never replied. It was like the minute I left Heatstroke, I ceased to exist, even though she spent most of her high school years living with Mom and me.
The pain of losing a person I thought was my friend mingles in with all the other emotions, and I have to take a breath.
“Do you need something?”
“Like I said,” she says, in that happy-go-lucky tone, “I just wanted to talk.”
“About?”
“Well, you know, I didn’t want to lose touch with you all those years ago,” she says, “but it is what it is. I guess we just went our separate ways. Happens, right?” Olivia laughs but doesn’t give me a chance to correct her. “You know, I always thought you were jealous of my relationship with Cash, so it would be better to keep my distance, but it’s been over for years now.”
“So, you thought you’d call me out of the blue?” I ask, unable to tamp down on my hostility.
“Well, yeah, why not? It’s never too late to rekindle an old friendship, right?” Olivia laughs again, a hollow sound. “Anyway, I thought you should know that Cash and I are over, and that he cheated on me, so I guess you weren’t missing out on anything with him after all.”
The revelation is tossed out there with such carelessness. He cheated on her?
“You know how it is,” Olivia continues, “men like that always cheat. I kind of don’t blame him. Cash was never the faithful type, and he was a celebrity for shit’s sake. Like, it makes sense that he would—”
“So, let me get this straight, you called me for the first time in fifteen years to tell me that you and Cash broke up years ago, that he cheated on you, and that you want to be friends?”
“Yeah,” she chuckles, “I guess.”
“Olivia.” Do it. “Olivia, I don’t want to be friends with you. And I don’t believe a word you’re saying. You abandoned your child. You lied to Cash about me. Fuck you.” And then I hang up, my heart beating a mile a minute.
I don’t care that she signed away her rights legally. All I care about is the look Alex gets when she’s upset over something, and she feels as if she has no one to turn to. The fact is, Olivia could have been a co-parent. Cash has the money to look after Alex, and all Olivia had to do was try to be present. As a girl whose father walked out, it eats me up that she would choose not to be part of her child’s life. And if that makes me a bad, judgmental person then so be it. It’s the hill I’m going to die on.
You don’t abandon your child, not when you have the means to be in their life, and Olivia had the means and the support system, and Cash would’ve made sure of that, cheating or not.
Olivia doesn’t try to call back, and I’m relieved.
I don’t believe her about Cash, and I don’t trust her anymore.
I check the time on my phone, my hands shaking. Twenty minutes until my meeting with Lone Star. I have to get it together.
Thirty-Six
CASH
I’m takingmy lunch break, seated on a stool near the in-progress bar when the door to Chuckles opens and Dad stumbles in. He’s drunk. The sight is painfully familiar, and I’m up and moving toward him before he’s a foot inside the bar.
“Dad,” I say, and catch him underneath one arm.
His blue eyes, once so sharp and focused, full of mirth, are hazy and unfocused. He hiccups and sighs. “Wanted to grab somethin’ to eat but they kicked me out of the damn Heartstopper!” The last word comes out as a shout. “That damn Marci Walsh thinks she owns the place.”
“She does.” I direct him to a chair at one of the nearby booths. We haven’t finished reupholstering them yet. “Dad, Marci’s owned the place ever since Nic died.”
“Yeah, yeah, well, she coulda given me a damn burger. Something to line the stomach. Is it my fault that I’m drunk?”
I grit my teeth as I study him. It was foolish to think his behavior would change, and the most frustrating part of it all is he won’t listen. He won’t get help, and there is nothing we can do but watch it all fall the fuck apart.
“Dad, I need you clear-headed if we’re going to fix this place up.”
“Don’t see that we should.”
“What?”
