CHAPTER TWENTY #2
I lift my head and glare at him, angry that he’s wrong.
That he can’t make his version of events reality.
“Amelia has a four-year-old she’s never told me about, unless there’s another Amelia Burns in Catalpa Creek.
DogPerson has a four-year-old daughter. Amelia works for animal control.
DogPerson works with animals.” More pieces start falling into place.
“DogPerson talked about being social again like she might be going on a date the same night I took Amelia on a date.” And it hits me like a punch to the solar plexus.
“DogPerson’s ex-husband is coming back to town, which means Amelia’s ex-husband is coming back to town. ”
Cash frowns, tapping his fingers on his knees. “That’s pretty damning, but it could still be a major coincidence.”
I want to cling to that thread of hope, but I’m already spiraling. “Amelia’s hiding her four-year-old daughter from me. That’s definitely true. Which means she’s never had any intention of letting me into her life, not really.”
Cash grips my shoulders and squeezes. Hard. “Focus, Deacon. The first thing you need to do is make sure Amelia and DogPerson are the same person.”
He’s in my face, looking worried, but I don’t feel any calmer. The walls of the room are closing in on me. There’s not enough room to breathe.
I shove him off and get up. “I’m going for a run.”
“Good. I’ll go with you.”
I glare at him. “I don’t want you to go.”
He shrugs as he grabs shorts and a t-shirt from his dresser. “Tough shit. I’m not taking a chance on you deciding to bridge jump or scale a building for whatever reason you do stupid shit when you’re freaking out.”
“I’m not freaking out.”
“Uh-huh.” He strips off his shirt and pulls on his t-shirt. “Sure you aren’t.”
***
By mile three, my brain is starting to quiet. “What I need to do is figure out if Amelia had the stomach bug this week,” I say.
Next to me, Cash pants. “How…Are…You…Talking?”
“I run four days a week. You should try it sometime.”
"I work out, man. I just don’t run for hours at a time.”
“We haven’t even been running for half an hour,” I say. Cash isn’t usually such a big complainer. “Can we focus on how I’m going to find out if Amelia had the stomach bug this week without seeming desperate?”
Cash stops, panting, hands on knees. “I can’t talk like this. Can we walk?”
“We’ve got three miles home. If we walk, it’ll take us like an hour to get there.”
He pulls a cell phone from his pocket. “I’m calling Levi to pick us up.”
“Levi’s not going to pick us up. He’s trying to avoid…” I slap my forehead. “Aw shit, I was supposed to distract Sebastian so Levi could escape. There’s no way he’s going to help us. Let’s just run home.”
Cash grabs my shoulders and shakes me. “Look at my face. Do I look like someone who’s ready to run another three miles?”
Now that he mentions it, his face is red, and he’s still panting pretty hard. “You need to start running with me every morning to get in shape.”
He shoves me away with a growl. “I’ll call… Shit. I don’t know enough people in this town.”
“I could call Amelia,” I say. “See if she’s working in this area. If she picks us up, I can ask how her week’s been and see if she cops to having the stomach bug.”
“Very romantic,” Cash says with a sneer. “Call the woman you’re trying to impress to pick up your sweaty ass because you’re too weak to make it home.”
“You’re the one who’s too weak.” I drop my phone back into my pocket and start walking. At least we can make progress toward home while we talk.
“And I’m never going to admit it,” he says. “I’m definitely going to blame everything on you.”
“You’re such an asshole.” But I’m already thinking about another strategy for figuring out if Amelia is DogPerson. “I could send her a picture of Dani’s skunk on his little wheelchair, since she got sprayed by a skunk. That could start a conversation.”
“Why don’t you just tell her the truth?”
I stop in my tracks. “Amelia wants to keep things super casual and chill, and DogPerson doesn’t want me trying to figure out who she is.”
Cash shrugs. “If they are the same person, you’re going to have to tell her the whole story, anyway. You might as well accept this woman isn’t the one and move on.”
That knocks the wind out of me. I sink slowly to sit on the paved trail. “I don’t want to lose her. Cash, I think I might be falling for her.”
He drops next to me on the trail, rubbing the nose of a dog on a leash as it passes us. I assume the leash is attached to a person, but I don’t lift my head high enough to check.
“You should get out now before you do fall for her,” he says. “I mean, it’s not entirely definite she’s going to dump you. Maybe she’s falling for you too.”
Hope sparks. “You think?”
“I mean, I don’t know how anyone could love an asshole like you, but women are weird.”
“Still, I need to figure out if they’re the same person without cluing her in to what I suspect. There’s no reason Amelia needs to know I’m talking to someone on a dating site on a daily basis.”
“Because keeping secrets from the woman you’re falling for is always the best course of action.”
I push up to a stand. “She’s keeping secrets from me. She doesn’t want to know my secrets.”
My walk quickly turns into a jog and then to a run. I need to move. I need to outrun the ache in my chest and the roiling in my stomach, which is not a stomach bug.
“Slow down,” Cash says. “You are not leaving me out here alone.”
I sigh and slow down. “It’s going to take forever to get home.”
“Send a message to Amelia right now,” he says, slowing to a walk as soon as I do. “Send her the skunk picture and ask her how her week’s been.”
It’s so simple, but perfect. “I’ve been trying to give her space. She’s always talking about how busy she is and how complicated her life is. I don’t want to be that guy who asks for more than she can give.”
He sighs. “Is this what happens when you don’t run away from your problems?”
“Fuck you. I really like this woman, and I don’t want to screw it up.”
“You’re overthinking things. Just send the damn message.”
Somehow, I find a good picture and send it, along with a message, while we walk and I don’t trip or run into anyone. Probably because Cash grabs my elbow and steers me a few times.
“It’s sent,” I say. “Happy?”
“I’ll be happy when I’m home with a cheeseburger in front of me.”
My phone finally dings when we’re about a half mile from home.
I swipe up to find a message from Amelia: It’s been a hell of a week. I had the stomach bug and have been absolutely slammed since I got back to work. It’s probably going to be another week or two before we can meet about the cat gym again.
She ends the message with a sad face that looks an awful lot like mine probably does. Not only did she blow me off, she just proved that she and DogPerson are the same person.
“Sucks to be you,” Cash says.
“Should I tell DogPerson, or wait until I see Amelia in person?”
“The sooner the better, dude,” he says. “In person’s better, but the longer you let this go on, the creepier it looks.”
“Right. Okay. I’ll tell her as soon as we get home.”
But when we get home, we can hear the yelling from the porch.
“Shit,” Cash says. “I’m so not in the mood for this.”
“We could sneak in the back.”
He grips my shoulder with one hand and pushes me toward the door. “Running away is never the answer, bro.”
“Where the fuck have you two been?” Sebastian asks, scowling. His hair is a mess, like he’s been running his hands through it, though his beard is, as always, neatly groomed.
Levi’s still carrying his laptop bag like he just walked through the front door, and Ryland is seated at the table with his head in his hands.
“I’ve cast my vote,” Levi says. “I’ve got a plane to catch.”
He starts for the door, but Sebastian grabs his arm and pulls him back. “Business comes first, Levi. You don’t leave until we’ve settled this.”
Levi glares at him. “Then kick me out of the business. Gentry’s my family, and I’m choosing to put her first because she needs me.” His expression turns pleading. “She could be in real danger here, Sebastian. I have to go.”
Sebastian glares at him like he can force Levi to his will with his mind. “Fine,” he finally says. “But don’t call here while you’re gone or worry about us. If you’re leaving, make it count. Get what you need to help Gentry and get back here ready to work.”
“Thank you,” Levi says.
He hugs me and then Cash before he walks back out the door with a short “Later.”
If I was hoping Sebastian would be softened by that conversation, I’m sorely disappointed.
“Have a seat,” Sebastian says. “We’re taking a vote.”
“Are you sure you need me for this?” I ask, already starting toward the door.
I don’t know what the vote is about, but based on the yelling, it’s controversial, and I don’t want to get dragged into a family argument when I’m already at my limit with this Amelia and DogPerson being the same woman thing.
Sebastian glares at me. “Sit. Nobody else is leaving until we get this settled.”
Ryland pulls his head out of his hands, his expression a grimace. “There is no settling this, Sebastian. Not without some form of family counseling.”
“We don’t need a professional,” Sebastian says. “We just need to talk this out and run the numbers.”
“I’ve run the numbers six times,” Ryland says. “There’s no amount of talking that’s going to give you what you want.”
“What do you want?” Cash asks.
Sebastian drops into a chair like it’s a throne, towering over the table with a scowl that could wage battle with any great warlord from history.
“I think we should put the business on hold and focus on Mom and Dad’s house until we get it exactly right.
Giving them less than our one hundred percent is unfair to the people who raised us. ”