Chapter 36
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
BOOKER
D ex looked around at the group of us sitting at the table as he chewed on his burger. His hand kept moving around as he pointed to everyone including Val, frowned, and then repeated the process again.
“What are you doing?” I hissed when I couldn’t take it any longer.
Sometimes his strange antics drove me crazy.
Dex frowned again. “Who’s missing?”
I winced at how much it felt like that cut deep. Of course there was one of us missing. He’d been missing for far too long.
I didn’t know if he realized what he’d said, or if it was the confusion on everyone else’s face, but Dex quickly added, “Who’s that?”
“Oh god,” Blake muttered, sliding down in her seat. “Someone hide me. I can’t take it anymore.”
Delaney chuckled and patted her friend’s arm. “Is it hard being popular?”
“I’m used to being the weird girl. Don’t these people know they’re supposed to just politely humor me and keep on walking?”
“I’d be happy to fill them in,” Xander muttered.
I looked between the two of them, and Reece squeezed my knee in excitement. When I glanced in her direction, she was beaming in excitement, and my head snapped back in Xander’s direction.
Oh, little brother. This one was going to be painful.
I laughed, making Xander look at me in shock, not understanding why Reece and I were staring at him.
Then I remembered what Dex had said.
“Who’s who?”
Dex hitched his thumb over his shoulder, and then it was my time to slump down in my chair, wishing that someone could hide me because the car Dex had noticed before any of the rest of us was my father’s.
“That can’t be good,” Trace muttered.
His eyes went to Delaney and his son, and I knew he was trying to decide whether to send them inside. I doubted it was an argument he’d win with Delaney.
“Cade, you wanna come and help me raid Booker’s freezer to see if there’s any ice cream?” Blake loudly whispered in the kid’s direction.
She might act like she didn’t have all the cogs turning, but when it came to Cade, like everyone else, there was nothing she wouldn’t do for the kid.
Delaney smiled at her gratefully, and Cade jumped from his seat and charged for the house. Hopefully, she’d find some excuse to keep him inside for a while.
“We’re going to listen in from the porch, though, right?” Cade asked loudly, making Blake cackle, and Delaney just sighed in defeat.
The kid needed to learn subtlety, or he’d never make it through his teenage years.
“I wouldn’t blame you if you wanted to go with them,” I told Reece as my father’s car pulled up outside of the house. “This is probably going to turn into some kind of shitshow.”
Reece bristled at the thought. “I think I’m good where I am, thank you.”
I could see her fierce determination in her eyes. Reece had my back, and she was ready to leap to my defense if needed. I’d never really had that before. Yeah, Dex and my brothers always had my back. But I was the eldest, and it had always been expected that I’d be standing in front of whatever trouble came our way. Or, maybe it was what I’d always expected of myself.
And here was this beautiful woman ready to push me to the side and take on the world by herself if that was what I needed.
Damn, I didn’t think it was possible to love her any more than I did, and then she went and did that.
I kissed her lightly on top of the head before standing and striding over to my father’s car. I had a moment of gratitude when he climbed out, and there was no sign of my mother. Then I almost laughed at the thought of her ever willingly coming to the ranch.
“Jasper,” I said, stopping a short distance away from him.
It was close enough for me to see the wince on his face.
“I have a copy of the information I could gather on Camden Carter,” he said, getting straight to the point and moving to pass the papers to me. “My associate has already delivered a copy to the governor with a message from me. He sent this for you.”
Jasper pulled an envelope out of his pocket and passed it to me. It was made from thick paper, and I was too intrigued not to open it. At this point, it could have been a threat that needed dealing with.
It wasn’t.
I slid out the check for a hundred grand, then folded it in half, and slipped it in my back pocket, not wanting to think about it right now.
“The governor sends his apologies. Apparently, the situation was misrepresented to him, and this is his apology for any inconvenience.”
I nodded slowly. It didn’t cover what I’d lost in investors, but it was a start. It also helped that it had Camden’s name signed on the bottom, and I knew signing it would have hurt more than the punch I gave him to the face.
The one thing rich dicks hated the most was reaching into their own pockets.
“Thank you,” I muttered, not really sure where to go from here.
My father shifted uneasily, and it had my spine straightening, preparing for the blow. This was the part where he’d tell me what I owed him for his help. If it got Camden off Reece’s back, anything would be worth it.
“I’d like to speak to you all for a moment if that’s acceptable,” my father said, looking over my shoulder to where I knew the others were probably standing.
My brothers wouldn’t have let me come to face my father alone, and I doubted Reece or Delaney would have either.
I was proved right when I felt Reece’s hand slip into mine and give it a gentle squeeze in support.
Jasper took a deep breath, looked around, and smiled. “I missed this place,” he said, and my stomach nearly dropped out of my ass. If he wanted the ranch, there was absolutely no way. “There are so many happy memories here. Happy times. I wish I could say the same of the ones from our own home.”
When Jasper looked back at us, there were tears in his eyes.
“I failed you boys so completely that I don’t think I can ever come back from it. I knew your mother was hard on you, but I never knew…the things you said, Booker. I made her tell me everything. Apologies can never be enough, but I need you to know that I am so very sorry.”
His voice hitched, and I knew he was trying his best to hold back his tears.
I’d never seen my father cry. I’d never seen much of any emotion from the man. He was this figurehead of our family who only appeared on rare occasions because he was too busy making his money to actually spend any time with us.
“I was a selfish, stupid man. Nothing can change the past. But I need you to know that it’s done. It’s over. I’m divorcing your mother. The papers are being drawn up, and she’s already packing her things. She’ll be moving back to Washington, where the rest of her family is. I’m hoping to stay in Willowbrook. I know I can’t possibly right any of the wrongs that have happened between us, but I’m going to try to do what I can for the town.”
No one said anything, and Jasper seemed to take a moment to look at each of us like he was trying to memorize our faces one last time.
I didn’t know what to say. His absence and inattentiveness didn’t excuse what had happened. Then I looked at Reece standing at my side, and I wondered if there was any chance of forgiveness in our future.
Since I’d found her, I was seeing so many things in a different light. I just didn’t see how there was possibly any way to get past everything that had happened to our family.
But I wanted to be the type of person who looked for a way.
The type of person who didn’t shut down any possibility.
I might not leave a door open for my father, but I could leave a window open. I could at least decide that I was willing to look for a chance of forgiveness, even if I wasn’t ready to give it yet. Even if I maybe never would be. It wasn’t a step forward, but I was at least looking in the right direction.
“We’re having family dinner at the farm on Sunday,” Delaney said from behind me. “If you’re serious about what you said, if you can honestly tell me, hand on your heart, that you’re leaving her, then you’re welcome to join us. Cade would love to see you. But that woman will never be welcome in my home, Jasper. And if you decide that you can’t not have her in your life, then I don’t want you there either.”
No one else spoke. We were probably all as surprised as Jasper was. Out of everyone here, I didn’t think Delaney would be the first of us to extend a hand to him. She’d possibly been hurt by our parents the worst of any of us.
“Thank you,” Jasper said, looking down at his feet. When he glanced up, the tears had finally slipped free from his eyes. “I can assure you that there’s no going back. I can’t ever forgive her for what she did to you all when it was me she was trying to punish.”
There was too much happening. More feelings than I was comfortable with and a glaring look at the past that was perhaps a long time coming.
The Farrington family wasn’t just broken. It had been shattered into a million pieces years ago. Trace, Xander, and I were slowly putting our family together again. But now we needed to figure out if we wanted all the pieces, and how to go about finding the ones that were still lost.