Chapter thirty-two
Caine
By the end of the day, I was exhausted. I had spent the entire day handling business… meetings, phone calls and paperwork.
Then I drove for two hours to meet with a couple of weed growers interested in expanding their operation. After we came to a fair price, we shook hands and concluded our business.
After that I headed across town for dinner. This time it wasn’t for business, but with my older brother Roland. The man had been deployed overseas and had only gotten back a couple of weeks ago. Unfortunately, our schedules hadn’t lined up until now.
The second I walked into the fancy restaurant, I spotted him.
He stood up immediately.
“Damn,” he said.
I laughed. “Damn what?”
“You done got old, boy.”
“Man, shut up,” I said as we laughed. “No matter how old I get, you’ll always be older than me.”
“Aight. Aight. You got me,” he said as the two of us embraced tightly.
It had been a long ass two years since we last saw each other... way too long.
“You look good boy,” Roland said.
“So do you.”
The waitress came over, introduced herself and took our drink orders. Then we spent the next hour and a half catching up on life, work, family and his responsibilities in the military.
For a while it felt like old times. Until Devyn’s name came up and that changed everything.
“You did what?” Roland asked.
I sighed and sat back in the booth.
Here we go.
“Roland...”
“Nah. Nah.” He shook his head. “Tell me I heard you wrong bro.”
I already knew where this conversation was headed. “She’s at a boarding school…”
“Yeah. I heard that part, but where?”
“In Zurich, Switzerland.”
I rubbed my forehead and prepared for my brother to lay into me. For a few minutes, Roland just stared at me. I mean, really stared at me like I had completely lost my mind. It was so uncomfortable.
“You shipped my niece across the world by herself?” he asked.
The people at the next table immediately looked over, so I lowered my voice.
“Can you relax please?” I asked.
“No,” he replied as his expression hardened. “I can’t relax when you got my niece all the way in some foreign country by herself. What were you thinking?”
I sighed. “Well, if you give me a chance I can explain,” I said. “You don’t even know the whole situation.”
“Then explain it. Tell me what made you think it was a good idea to send your daughter away.” He sat back and crossed his big arms over his chest.
So, I explained the situation… Tara, all the tension between her and Devyn, the arguments, everything.
By the time I finished, Roland looked even less impressed. “Damn.”
“What?” I asked.
“You really got rid of your daughter to make your life easier,” he surmised.
The words hit harder than I expected. Immediately my jaw tightened as I replied, “That’s not what happened.”
“That sounds exactly like what happened.”
I leaned back in my chair. “Watch yourself.”
Roland shook his head. “That’s my niece.”
I stared at him. “And that’s my daughter.”
We both went quiet as the tension between us immediately thickened. For several moments, neither of us spoke.
Finally, Roland sighed and rubbed his face.
“Look...” His voice softened. “I know you love her.”
I looked away because he was absolutely right about that. I loved Devyn more than anything. She was my baby girl and that was why I wanted so much for her.
“At the end of the day, I know you thought you were doing the right thing.”
I nodded. “Yeah, I did. And to this day, I still believe that,” I said.
“I get it bro, but she’s a kid.”
The guilt immediately returned. The same guilt I had been carrying for over a year.
“I know that.”
“And family matters.”
“I know that too,” I said.
Roland stared at me for several seconds. Then finally he sighed. “Well...”
“What?”
“She is your daughter.”
I nodded. “Yeah.”
“Which means ultimately it’s your decision,” he said. “If that’s what you thought was best for her, then I’m just gonna have to deal with it.”
Relief immediately washed through me because the last thing I wanted was tension between me and my brother, especially since he had been gone for so long.
“I appreciate that bro.”
Roland smirked. “Don’t get all emotional.”
I laughed. “Whatever man.”
That earned a laugh from him too and just like that, the tension disappeared. A few minutes later we stood outside the restaurant. The night air felt cool against my skin.
“Next weekend?” Roland asked.
“Yeah.” I nodded. “Next weekend for sure.”
We shook hands then hugged one more time.
“Love you, bro.”
“Love you too,” I said.
Then we headed our separate ways. I climbed into my Cadillac Escalade and started the drive home. For the first time all day, my mind felt clear. Things with Devyn had improved. Things with Monique were improving. Things with Tara had improved. And of course, things with Natalia were off the chain.
For once, life felt manageable. My phone rang and Tara’s name and face lit up the screen. I smiled then answered through Bluetooth.
“Hey baby.”
“Hey, what time are you coming home?” she asked.
I laughed. “Soon.”
“That’s what you said two hours ago,” she whined.
“Well, I’m serious this time.”
“Uh huh.”
I shook my head and smiled. “How was your day?”
“It was good and relaxing.”
I could hear the smile in her voice before she asked, “What about yours?”
“Long and profitable with a great ending.”
“Oh, you finally got to see Roland huh?” she asked.
“Yeah.”
That immediately got her attention.
“And?”
I laughed. “And what?” I asked.
“How’d it go?” she inquired.
I pulled up to a red light. “It was good.” The light turned green and I eased forward through the intersection. “We got into it a little bit over Devyn.”
“I knew you would.”
I laughed. “Yeah, he was pissed.”
“What happened?” Tara asked.
“He thinks I sent her away to make my life easier,” Caine informed me.
There was a brief pause.
“Ouch,” Tara said. “That hurts.”
“Exactly.” I smiled. “But we worked it out.”
The intersection was almost behind me now and everything was fine… normal and peaceful. Then out of nowhere, a pair of bright headlights appeared moving way too fast.
My eyes widened. “What the…”
A horn exploded through the night.
Tara’s voice came through the speakers.
“Caine?!” she yelled.
Tires screeched as metal crashed and glass shattered around me.
BOOM!
The driver’s side of my SUV disappeared beneath a violent impact as everything went dark.
“Caine?!” I could hear Tara screaming. “CAINE?!”
That was the last thing I heard before I lost consciousness…
To be continued…
heard was