Chapter 20
Chapter Twenty
NONA
My cell started ringing for the fifth time this morning. My jaw clenched as I looked at the screen and saw Chris’s name a-freaking-gain.
I stuffed it in the back pocket of my jeans and smiled at my client as I lowered the hairdryer over her head. “I’ll be back to check on you in a few, Mrs. Ryan. Holler if you need anything.”
I got a gummy, wrinkly smile from the old lady. “All right, dearie.”
Stomping to the supply room, I shut and locked the door just as my cell started to ring again. Pulling it from my pocket, I swiped the screen, lifted it to my ear, and snapped, “What?”
“Fuckin’ Christ, Nona,” Chris snarled through the line. “Nice of you to finally answer.”
“You’re kidding, right?” I seethed. “You’re giving me shit for not answering the phone when I’m busy, when you had no problem whatsoever blowing me off when I tried to get a hold of you to discuss what was wrong with our daughter?”
“I had some shit goin’ down I needed to handle. I planned on calling you back,” he defended lamely, only making me that much angrier.
“Glad to know where your kids rank on your scale of importance. Tell me, do you recall what yesterday was?” He remained quiet for several beats, and I had to squeeze my eyes closed and count to ten to keep my head from exploding.
“It was your son’s birthday,” I clipped through gritted teeth.
“His thirteenth birthday, Chris. That’s a big fucking deal.
And you didn’t even call him! You blew up my phone, but when I looked at his last night, there wasn’t a single call from you! ”
“Shit,” he hissed through the line. “I… fuck, No. I-I forgot. I’ve just had a lot on my mind. I’ll call him and make it right.”
“There’s nothing to make right. You can’t make something like forgetting your son’s birthday right! But it doesn’t matter anyway. Apparently he’s gotten used to you being a worthless sack of shit, so he wasn’t all that disappointed.”
“You mind cutting me some slack here? Things haven’t exactly been easy for me since the divorce, Nona.”
I didn’t want to hear his sob story. If things were hard for him, it was his own doing.
One thing Chris never learned in all the years I’d known him was that things didn’t just fall into your lap simply because you wanted them.
You had to work for it, and that was a concept he never understood.
“I’m busy. Tell me what’s so important that you’ve been blowing up my phone so I can get back to work. ”
“I, well…,” he hemmed and hawed, testing my already limited patience. “I’m gonna need to miss my next couple of weekends with the kids.”
A bark of caustic laughter burst from my chest. “Why am I not surprised?”
“And I need to ask you a favor.” At that, the hairs on the back of my neck stood on end, because a favor from Chris was never a good thing. “I need to borrow some money. I’ll pay you back,” he added on a rush. “I’m just in a bind right now. I’ve got nowhere else to turn.”
“Of course you are,” I deadpanned. “Exactly how much are we talking here?”
I was met with silence, then “Fifteen grand.”
My mouth dropped so wide the hinge of my jaw ached, and my legs buckled in shock. “You’re joking,” I whispered in consternation, having to grab hold of one of the shelves to stay on me feet. “Please, god, tell me you’re joking.”
“I’ll pay you back.”
“How?” I cried. “How could you possibly pay me that much money back?”
“I don’t know, okay!” he shouted through the line. “I don’t know, I just will!”
Lifting a hand, I pressed my fingers into the center of my forehead, attempting to massage away the headache that was suddenly forming. “I can’t believe you just asked me that. You are unbelievable! What the hell makes you think I have that kind of cash just lying around?”
“What about the shop?” he pushed. “Or the house? I know there’s equity in the house.”
Rage bubbled inside of me. Just when I thought Chris was incapable of surprising me, he said or did something that would take him to a whole new low.
“That’s out of the question,” I snarled.
“If there ever came a time I needed to use the house or my salon as collateral, it would be for Blythe and Tristan. Only ever for them. You understand me? I don’t know what kind of trouble you’ve gotten yourself into, but your debt is not my responsibility.
That’s on you, Chris. I’m not gonna pull you out of a fire that you lit yourself.
Grow up. You’re an adult. It’s time you start acting like one. ”
“Fuck you,” he hissed through the phone, the venom and hatred tangled around those two words so strong it nearly stole my breath. “Should’ve known askin’ you was a waste of my goddamn time.”
“You’re right. You should have. Don’t worry, I’ll cover for you with the kids. Again. But from here on out, unless it directly involves their well-being, you and I have no reason to speak. Ever.”
And with that, I hung up.
Bracing my hands on one of the stocked shelves, I closed my eyes and pulled in a deep, steady breath through my nose, holding it a few seconds before letting it pass my lips. It took a good couple of minutes to calm the storm raging inside of me, but somehow I managed.
“What a dick!”
I swirled a french fry through the glob of ketchup on my plate and looked to Gypsy, replying, “Yep. Pretty much,” before stuffing it into my mouth.
After my call with Chris, having to fake a good mood had proven harder than I thought.
So when my lunch hour rolled around, I’d decided to head to The Tap Room.
It was a double win in the sense that their burgers were fantastic, and Rory would be there, so I could vent all my frustrations to a friend.
When I walked through the door, I discovered Gypsy was there as well, perched on a barstool while scarfing down a plate of chili fries.
All it took was one look at my face, and they both knew something was up.
I didn’t hesitate in pulling up a stool and launching into the whole messed-up story—after I put in my order, of course.
I’d just finished with Chris’s most recent show of asshole-ery when my plate was plonked down in front of me.
“Fifteen grand?” Rory asked in bewilderment. “How do you even end up owing that much?”
“Hell if I know,” I grumbled, dragging another fry through the ketchup. “He hasn’t worked since before I kicked him out, so I can only assume he’s up to his eyeballs in debt.”
“You did the right thing,” Gypsy declared passionately. “When it comes to your kids, a person’s supposed to do whatever it takes to take care of them. Whatever it takes.”
I knew all too well that my friend was speaking from experience.
She’d grown up the oldest of six kids, and aside from bringing their kids into the world, her parents wanted nothing to do with actually raising them.
For all intents and purposes, those kids were Gypsy’s, and that was exactly how she viewed them.
Left to raise five children on her own when her folks finally bailed for good, she’d been forced to drop out of high school before earning her diploma so she could get a job and take care of them.
To make ends meet, she worked as a cashier at the local grocery store during the day and stripped at night.
While some of the judgmental, closed-minded assholes in town looked down on her for taking her clothes off for cash, I was proud to call her my friend.
She’d bleed and die for any one of those kids, and if she had to strip to keep food on the table and a roof over their heads, she wouldn’t think twice. She was one of the best women I knew, and I admired the hell out of her.
“I know,” I said on a heavy sigh. “I just hate this for Blythe and Tris. I want them to have a father they can look up to. I mean, what kind of example is he setting for our son? These are the years when Tris needs a role model, not a flake who can’t be bothered to call him on his birthday or see him two weekends a goddamn month. ”
“Role models come in all different shapes and sizes, hon,” Gypsy said sympathetically. “It’ll hurt for a while, but kids are resilient. They’ll get past it, I promise. In the meantime, they have you to look up to, and from where I’m sitting, you’re a pretty incredible example.”
I leaned to the side, resting my head on her shoulder, and she wrapped her arm around my waist in a sideways hug.
“Boys Tristan’s age look to who’s around them as a role model,” Rory added. “And I’m not sure you could ever find one better than Trick Wanderly.”
Her knowing look made my cheeks flush as I sat up straight.
“Speaking of Trick….” I turned my head at Gypsy’s tone and found her shooting me an evil glare my way. “I can’t believe me and Rory are the last to know! And we only found out because the whole damn town’s talking!”
“We’ve only been together for like two days,” I defended.
“Yeah, but you slept with him nearly two months ago, and you guys have been circling each other ever since,” Rory chimed in accusatorily.
“I was going to tell you. I promise. It’s just…
it started pretty bad, and I didn’t want to share that part.
Then it stopped being bad and turned good really fast, and I feel like I’ve been on this roller coaster ride that’s only just now starting to slow down.
” My friends gave me matching looks of understanding, but I still felt like absolute shit for keeping something this big from them.
“I’m sorry,” I stressed. “I should have come to you guys sooner. Will it help if I promise to never ever to keep another secret from you?”
Gypsy’s glare morphed into a cheeky grin. “Works for me.”
“Ditto,” Rory replied, propping her elbows on the bar and leaning in. “Now, tell us everything.”
I did just that, regaling my girls with all the awesomeness that was Trick Wanderly as I devoured every bite of my burger and all my fries. By the time I finished, the dread that had been resting in my gut since earlier that morning was gone.
It was amazing what good food and amazing friends could do.