Chapter 10
CHAPTER TEN
THE GRILLING
SADIE
God, this is torture.
Weston’s family is nicer than I expected, but there’s still a lot of resentment under the surface.
I can’t blame them for that.
If I were in their shoes, I’d hate me.
We eat and Caleb snoozes as his grandparents hold him. Olivia shakes her head when Lane tries to hand him to her. I’m not sure what to make of Olivia, but I’d be protective of my sibling too—I guess I already have been. And seeing Caleb being so loved, it seems like my protectiveness of Sasha may have been to Caleb’s detriment.
When Weston’s sister Felicity and her husband and son arrive, the mood lightens considerably. Owen is nine and so cute and funny, and Felicity and Sutton are warm and friendly. It’s hard not to stare at them because they’re beautiful people and so obviously in love. Weston and Felicity’s closeness reminds me of Sasha and me, where they’re hugging one minute and she’s tripping him the next. But most of all, they are ecstatic about Caleb.
My parents call to say they’ll be later than three. I’m restless and don’t know what to do with myself. As the day goes on, I wonder even more what I’m doing here. Weston clearly has backup. He wouldn’t need me to make this work. And when his parents and Olivia talk about work, I’m reminded that they’re all lawyers, and Sutton is a freaking judge .
“What do you do for fun, Sadie?” Felicity asks.
“The past couple of months, it’s been all about this guy,” I say.
Her smile is pure, without any of the blame that they must all think I deserve.
“She works at Hanson’s Steakhouse,” Weston says.
I nod while they go on about how much they love the place.
“We don’t get to go as often—well, I live in Landmark Mountain now, so that’s part of it. But we hadn’t been there for a long time before that even. We’ll have go back,” she says.
Olivia rolls her eyes, but Felicity misses it because she’s smiling at me.
“You should bring Caleb out to meet everyone sometime soon,” Felicity says, looking at Weston and me. “Sutton has a huge family and they’re all crazy about Weston now.” She laughs.
“They’re great,” Weston adds.
“Is that all you do?” Olivia asks, looking at me.
“All I do?” I repeat.
“For work?” Her eyebrows lift.
“Oh. Yes. I work a ton of hours and then try to help with Caleb when I’m off.” I shake my head.
She’s gone echoes in my mind.
“So this must feel pretty great, staying in this nice house indefinitely,” Olivia says.
“Olivia, you need to leave if you’re going to keep being like this,” Weston says.
She lifts a shoulder. “I’m just stating the obvious. No one else seems to be telling the truth.”
“It’s okay,” I tell Weston, standing up. “I’ll be downstairs if you need me.” I look at everyone. “It was nice to meet you. I’ll give you some time together. I know all of this is a lot to take in.”
“You don’t need to go,” Weston says softly.
“It’s okay.” I move past him and rush out of the room.
When I’m almost to the stairs, I hear Weston say, “She just lost her sister. While you’re here judging her about staying here, she’s about to have to face her parents, who just lost their daughter , and help them plan a funeral. Have some fucking mercy, Olivia. Sorry, Owen. Grab a dollar from the kitchen for your swear jar. You know where the stash is.”
I jog down the basement stairs before Owen gets to the kitchen and don’t stop until I’m in the room I slept in last night. I fall back on the bed and can’t fight back the tears any longer. My phone rings before I can delve too deep into all my feelings.
“We’re back,” my mom says. “Where are you?”
“There’s something I need to tell you.”
About an hour and a half later, my parents arrive at Weston’s. I feel awful for one more minute that they had to drive to get here after their road trip, but their need to see Caleb after everything that’s happened outweighed their exhaustion. When I mentioned to Weston that they were back and wanted to see Caleb, he invited them to come here, but he also offered to go to them. I told him I’d let them make the decision and once they heard that his family was here, they said they’d come.
When they walk through the door, we fall into each other’s arms and I just thought I had cried before—it’s like a whole new dam of emotions floods out of me when I see my parents. After a few minutes, my mom pulls back and starts tending to me the way she always does, pushing my hair back and reaching in her purse for tissues. She passes one to me and my dad, and we all blow our noses and try to get our bearings.
I feel my dad’s attention shift when he realizes Weston is in the room, and he clears his throat, nodding at him.
“Hello. I’m Chris.” My dad holds out his hand and shakes Weston’s. “And this is my wife, Pam.”
Weston nods and shakes Mom’s hand next.
My parents are unfailingly polite, so even though their shoulders are stooped with the weight of the loss of their baby girl, I know they’ll make an effort to be kind to Weston.
Out of all of us, Sasha has been the free spirit, never confined to a box. If she didn’t feel like being polite, she wouldn’t be. I’ve always admired that about her.
When my parents get a good look at the entryway with the grand double staircases, their eyes are as wide as mine were yesterday.
My dad is a combination of awestruck and distrustful, meeting the quarterback of his favorite team after he’s taken them to the Super Bowl two years in a row, who also happens to be the father of his grandson and hasn’t been around at all.
Weston gets it out of the way right off the bat, before we even leave the foyer to join his family. He hands Caleb to them, which makes both of them cry, the grief about Sasha so raw it’s brutal.
He’s gracious when I introduce him to them. He tells them he’s sorry for everything that’s happened. He’s so sorry for their loss. And that he didn’t know he had a son until the hospital called him on Saturday. My parents are as shocked as I was, even more so finding out it was him , and I think they’re so genuine that I can see on Weston’s face that he truly believes it.
What shocks me is that they believe Weston didn’t know.
I think maybe I was wrong to ever jump to that conclusion, especially knowing how Sasha could sometimes twist the truth. I just always wanted so badly to believe whatever she told me.
“We’re sorry,” my dad says. “I wish I knew what Sasha was thinking. There were times she didn’t…make the best choices.” His cheeks flush and he looks down at Caleb as his eyes fill with tears. “But she was a good person, Weston, and she loved this boy more than anything.”
“When you’re ready, I’d like to hear more about her,” Weston says.
That makes my mom cry harder, and I hug her and then my dad, while Weston stands there quietly, being there but giving us space at the same time.
When we get our bearings, my mom looks at Weston and says, “I’m not sure if you can trust us after all of this, but we’re here, and we’ll do whatever we can to help. We want to be part of Caleb’s life and if this gets to be too much, we could also take care of him. We’d never keep you from seeing him.”
“I appreciate you saying that,” Weston says.
I wasn’t sure if it would make him angry to hear that or not, but he’s calm.
“I won’t keep you from seeing him either. I want to raise him, but that’s part of why I asked Sadie to stay here and help me. I don’t want to take him from the only family he’s known. He needs normalcy and I don’t know how long Sadie is willing to do this with me, but as you’ll see, it’s a big place, so she could stay here forever and it’d be okay with me.”
My mom’s eyes meet mine and I can see her mind whirling as much as mine is.
“What happens when you meet someone?” she asks, still looking at me and then at Weston. “Eventually you’ll both fall in love with someone and they might not be okay with this arrangement.”
“I’d like to have it in a legal document,” I say. “That way, you’ll trust that I’m not going to take him from you when I go to the store, and I’ll feel better knowing I won’t get the boot when you get a girlfriend.”
For a second, there’s a flash of indignation in his eyes, but when he nods, it’s gone. “We can talk to my parents about it tonight. I can have my family draw up paperwork—they’re lawyers. And you can look it all over and see if you agree to it or if we need to keep tweaking it. Sadie mentioned before that she needed it in writing and I should’ve made sure it was done then. But if the day comes when we are in relationships, and I’m nowhere close to that, by the way, I’d still want Sadie to raise Caleb with me. It sounds like that’s what Sasha really wanted—for Sadie to raise him—and I’d like to think that since she put me on the birth certificate, she’d be okay with me raising him too.”
My mom opens her mouth, but nothing comes out.
“Thank you,” I whisper.
“Are you guys hungry?” he asks. “There’s a lot of food in the kitchen.”
“I don’t think we’ll stay,” Dad says. “We’re exhausted and not good company right now, but I’d like to meet your family before we go.”
They go into the living room and meet everyone, and it’s strange how well everyone gets along. When my parents start to leave, Lane and Felicity both hug my mom.
I walk my parents to the door and they study me intently.
“Are you really going to be okay here?” Dad asks.
“I think so. The whole thing is crazy, but I’d rather be here than living without Caleb.”
They nod solemnly and we all hug each other.
My mom pats my cheek when I pull away.
“I think you’re in good hands,” she says.
And the craziest part is I’m starting to believe she’s right.