CHAPTER SIXTY-FIVE
Haden
One month later
“Can I have a minute of your time?” a voice says as I pull my front door open.
I’m holding my deep brown blazer in one hand and a boutonnière in the other.
I was just about to pin the rustic-looking feather and rose to my lapel when the knock sounded at the door.
I didn’t expect it to be my father. I haven’t seen him since our blowup in my driveway.
“Yeah, uh, I’m just getting ready for Cole and Ginger’s wedding.”
My dad takes his cowboy hat off as he enters my foyer. “This won’t take long.”
He looks around the space. I’ve been living at Penny Lane for a week now, and Cassie has moved almost all her own belongings in too.
It looks like we’ve been here forever already.
We had the main floor painted and the original wood floors sanded down and restained.
When we moved in, Cassie decorated the walls with vintage artwork, and the oak table with magazines and candles.
We have a big sectional sofa in the centre of the living room which is draped in blankets and pillows.
One whole wall in the living room is covered in washed shiplap, and hooks that hold Cassie’s six prized guitars.
All her belongings from her Nashville apartment came with her, and her place was sublet right away.
“Looks like you’re all settled here?” my dad says to me now. I think it’s the first start to a conversation with him I’ve ever had where he isn’t criticizing me.
“Yeah. We’re getting there. The concert raised enough to redo the roof, and to get us some new tools and equipment. We also donated a good sum to the woman who died’s family. We hope to move our horses back from Silver Pines by mid-summer.”
My dad takes a breath and looks out the back window of my living room.
You can see Sugarland Mountain in the distance and a never-ending view of pastures that lead to the small wooden dock in the creek behind the house.
In the mornings, mist rolls between the trees and gives the whole place a magical vibe.
It’s why Cassie has claimed the covered deck off the living room as her own.
She’s added a comfortable outdoor sofa and tables, flameless candles and a lantern so we can sit out there at night.
We’ve strung lights from the pine ceiling and she’s even added hanging ferns to the beams. It’s her own little writing haven.
“I’m really not good at this,” he says.
I set my blazer and flower down on the back of the sofa.
“Neither am I.” I chuckle nervously. “No idea where I got that from … Do you want a beer?”
My dad holds his hand up. “No, I’m … slowing down on that a little.”
My eyebrows shoot up but I let him continue.
“I’m also staying away from the track. I joined a darts league at the legion. Trying to take on some more wholesome hobbies.”
“That’s great, Dad.”
He smiles, and I realize how weathered he is. How much older he’s getting.
“Look, Haden. Life wasn’t very fair to us.
But somewhere along the lines of your mother leaving and me trying my damndest to raise you when I had no idea what I was doing, I …
I forgot she left you too. I came to say that I’m sorry.
For all of it. I know I wasn’t there for you when I should have been.
I’ve done a lot of soul-searching over the last few weeks and you were right. I do have to let the past go.”
I stand in shock. I have no idea what to say so I simply reply with: “Thank you.”
“I did push you to play ball,” he continues.
“But that wasn’t because I thought you weren’t good enough to do what you wanted.
It was about me. It was because I always hoped that someday she’d come back and see that I made you into the best of the best. She’d see I didn’t need her.
That I wasn’t a failure …” He looks down and swallows.
“But I did need her. I really fucking needed her.”
At these words, I close the space between us and hug him.
“I don’t know, Dad. And we did alright, didn’t we? Just the two of us?”
I think of all the things we did together that weren’t terrible.
The days we spent when I was a teen working in the small yard before ordering pizza and catching a game.
All the hours he spent teaching me how to drive and working on his old car.
And the pride he wore on his face in the stands when I did play ball.
Even when I played like shit, he was there telling me tomorrow was a new day.
All those things I’d forgotten because of how bad our relationship had become.
I look up at him now—this older man, broken and admitting he was wrong.
“I’d uh … really like to start fresh,” he says. His jaw tenses as he looks away. “Try at least to be a better man. Try to be a better dad. Even though you don’t really need a dad now.”
“We can’t live in our past mistakes. We can only move forward. Today, we start afresh.” I let him go and he wipes his eyes.
“Yeah?”
“Yeah.” I smile. “I’m happy, Dad. Happier than I’ve ever been. I’m gonna marry this woman one day. Penny Lane will be our life and I want you to be a part of that. Kids need their grandparents. And I’ll always need a dad.”
“I heard she was back in town.” I give him a confused look. “Jo told me … I always get the gossip from her.”
“Cassie’s not performing anymore. She’s doing what she loves, which is working with me and making music. That’s how it’ll stay for a while at least.”
My dad nods and looks at me with sincerity. Then he says something I never thought I’d hear him say.
“I’m proud of you, son.” He pats me on the shoulder. “I know I never told you that enough. I was bitter for a long time. And I’m just grateful you’re willing to give me another shot now.”
“We’re family. You don’t run out of shots, Dad.
” I set my jaw and give him another quick hug.
My dad and I have never shared emotions, and maybe years of me keeping my feelings to myself was wrong too.
But like everyone has been telling me, when something is meant to be, it always works out. I’m really starting to believe that.
My dad lets out a low whistle over my shoulder and I turn to see Cassie coming down the wide, hundred-year-old staircase.
The theme of Cole and Ginger’s wedding is 1920s high roller, which means Cassie is poured into a navy fringed sleeveless flapper dress that goes all the way to her ankles.
The look is complete with navy gloves, and her hair is side-swept into a low bun and decorated with a navy headpiece with a gold feather at the side.
She looks like something dreams are made of. My dreams.
“You look beautiful, darlin’,” my dad says.
“Thank you, Jim.”
“Every eye in the place will be on you two.”
I shrug with a smile. “Don’t remind her how good I look. She gets jealous.”
Cassie scoffs and smacks me. “Bite your tongue. You’re lucky I’m even taking your rough-and-tumble cowboy ass.”
My dad chuckles and then claps his hands. “Well, I’ll let you two get to it.”
He lifts his hat off the hook and puts it back on his head. “Maybe I could come by next week? You could give me the full tour of this place?”
“Sure thing.”
He winks as he closes the door behind him. I walk back toward Cassie and wrap my arms around her to kiss her.
“Goddamn, girl.”
“You’re lucky I haven’t put my lipstick on yet.”
My cock twitches with my thoughts. “Put it on. So I can make a mess of it.”
I cover her mouth with mine and she laughs, before she pulls back and moves to the sofa to pick up my jacket.
I’m wearing new jeans—Cassie approved—a white dress shirt and a vintage-looking belt and bolo tie, just like the rest of the boys.
She holds my jacket out to me and angles her head toward the direction of the door. “What was that all about?”
I follow her gaze, then look back at her as she begins to pin my boutonnière to my lapel. “I can’t be certain but … I think a new beginning.”