Chapter 2 #2
“Aunt Court wants to talk to you,” she cut me off, and without giving me a chance to let me even make a sound, I knew she pulled the cell phone away from her ear and was handing it to my sister.
“Okay, honey, have fun.” I heard my sister say before taking the phone. “What did you do?” she hissed quietly.
“What? Excuse me—“
“She was so happy to hear from you, and now she’s close to crying,” Courtney almost growled in a hushed tone. “What. Did. You. Do?” she asked again, enunciating each word.
“I didn’t—“ I took a deep breath and exhaled as slowly as I could. “Did you send me to this damn thing so Cassie could go to Pinehaven to meet up with this boy?”
“God, you’re an idiot. I love you, big brother, but seriously, sometimes, I’m shocked you don’t have ‘moron’ tatted on your forehead.”
“Courtney,” l warned.
“No. I brought my niece to this competition because otherwise, you would have used your child as an excuse of why you can't get yourself to meet someone... Again.”
“That’s not—“
“And she’s worked too hard her entire high school career to miss something so big,” she added. “Now, as for Mace—“
“So, you know he’s there?” I cut her off. “Of course, you do. She tells you everything.”
“Hmm, I wonder why? Since you’re so understanding and easy to talk to,” my sister sassed without missing a beat. My eye twitched.
“I should just leave and head to Pinehaven to keep an eye on—“
“You do that, and I swear I can almost guarantee that’s the fastest way to losing your daughter.”
“Court—“
“A daughter who, by the way, I don’t think I need to remind you, is graduating high school in less than four months and then will be leaving for college. More than likely out of state.”
“You don’t think I know that?” I growled, taking my wallet out of my back pocket. “This was a mistake.”
“What is?”
“Letting you and Cassie talk me into coming here so you can help her sneak off with that football player.”
“She’s not sneaking around, Caleb. Geez, do you hear yourself right now?
Carol knew the team was coming out to help support the squad.
Just like, oh, I don’t know, the squad supported them throughout their season.
” I’d attended every home and away football game this season, including state, to see her in action, with my sister sitting next to me at each one.
“Court—“
“He’s a nice guy who would rather break his arm, an arm, by the way, that gave him a full ride to Stanford, not to mention possible first draft pick if he does half as good in college as he did in high school, before he’d hurt Cassie.”
“You don’t get it,” I muttered, sliding off my barstool.
“I do get it, Caleb. I get it more than you think.
You forget I might be younger, but I was there.
The way Dad tried to hold on so damn tight, make you do what he wanted so much that you dropped out your senior year thinking you were going to make it big with your band. And for a moment, you were close—“
“I was broke and stupid, and she’s not.”
“Neither is Mace!” she exclaimed.
“You sound like you’ve talked to him,” I gritted through my teeth. I couldn’t believe I was having this conversation surrounded by strangers.
“Hmm, I imagine that’s because I have,” she sassed.
“Fuck—“ She didn’t let me say anything else before she kept talking.
“Because if he’s important to my niece, he’s important to me.”
“Fuck.” I walked through the crowd of people, ignoring the glances of appreciation cast my way, things my sister and daughter liked to tease me about being oblivious to.
“I’m nothing like Dad,” I argued but didn’t know if I believed that anymore. Was I making the same mistakes my dad had?
“Bud, I hate to tell you, but the way you’re trying to push your agenda is exactly like our dad.”
“I’m going back to my room to grab my—“
“I swear to god, and I’m not kidding, Caleb Walker, if you leave and come here after going back on your word about trying to put yourself out there and meeting someone nice, she’s not going to forgive you.
And honestly, I’m not sure I will, either.
” My little sister used a stern tone I’d never heard before in my life from her.
“Court—“
“You deserve to be happy,” she interrupted. My steps faltered just as I was about to head outside. “You might have chased after a dream once and stumbled, but that doesn’t mean you’re a failure.” I breathed deeply.
I’d heard this before, but for some reason, my sister’s words started to settle, and I was actually soaking them in, chipping away at something inside of me.
“And even if we fail, bud, that’s how we learn. Isn’t that what you always tell Cassie? What you told me when I decided not to go to medical school like I had always planned?”
“That’s different.”
“Why? Because it’s not you? Failures and making mistakes help us learn not only about life but about ourselves.
I mean, look at your life, for goodness sake, Caleb!
You’re not some deadbeat dad living in Mom and Dad’s basement.
You’re a successful landscaper. You own your own home and a great business.
I mean, your work’s been in magazines! You’ve raised a beautiful, caring, talented, seriously smart kid. ”
“We have one rule—“ I started to remind her, knowing I didn’t have a leg to stand on.
“Rules shmules.” I could almost hear her eyes were rolling. “You should see how he looks at her, Caleb.”
“How a seventeen-year-old football player hopped on hormones looks at my daughter? That’s what you want me to see? So I could what? Kill him, Court?”
“No, smartass! So you could see how a kind, respectable, intelligent young man looks at my niece like she’s beautiful inside and out. Like he can’t believe his eyes. Like he knows something precious and a woman worth her weight in gold when he sees it.”
“He might look at her that way, but I know what’s going through his head.” My argument was weak at best, and I knew it.
“Maybe, but he’s not acting on it. Plus, it doesn’t mean she’s going to do anything, and even if she decided to do something like, oh, I don’t know—“
“Court,“ I warned her.
“—kiss him.” I made a face as I leaned against the brewery’s wall outside. “You can’t stop that. She’s a good kid, Caleb. All you can do is trust that you and Carol raised her in a way that she will make safe and responsible choices.”
“When she goes to college—“
“Wouldn’t you rather she started to make those choices now?” I frowned. “When you guys are close by in case she needs you or Carol? That way, when she goes away to college, that trust is built a little stronger.”
“Can you stop reminding me that she’s going to be leaving soon?” I muttered under my breath, knowing and hating that my little sister was right.
“Maybe someone needs to. You act like Cassie is five instead of seventeen, about to be eighteen!” I could feel Court’s frustration with me. “Especially with this stupid no-dating rule. He hasn’t even asked her out. He’s her friend.”
“Friend,” I scoffed. “He likes her. He asked her to tutor him when he’s a straight-A student.”
“He likes her, but he knows your rule and has been respectful of that. But prom is going to come up sooner than later. And honestly… maybe you both need to date!”
“Court—"
“Relationships aren’t the end of the world, Caleb. Meeting someone to grow a friendship with or, I don’t know, share your life with is not the worst idea ever. Maybe even have a couple more kids.” I blinked.
“More kids?” I repeated. I’d never had enough time to think about what I wanted from my life when I’d been a teenager chasing musical dreams.
But for a split second, when Carol had told me she was pregnant and I was ready to marry her, I might have imagined a house full of kids running around. I shook my head. No. Dreams like that weren’t meant for me. Not when I was already forty-five.
“You think I want more kids?” I scoffed. “Just when the one I have is about to go away to college like you like to tell me with every other thing we talk about?” I asked incredulously.
“Why not?” Court asked, as if the idea could actually be plausible.
“Starting over? At my age?” I chuckled. My sister might have been right about my kiddo, but this? I doubted it. I highly doubted it. Fuck.
“Your forty-five, not seventy-five,” she argued.
“But…” I wanted to laugh. I should have laughed. The notion of me starting over was hilarious. “I’d have to fall in love and—“
“That’s not impossible. You’re not hideous to look at. My friends like to remind me of just how good looking they think you are. And when you’re not trying to be an ogre with your child when it comes to dating, I know you can be charming.”
“Whatever,” I mumbled.
“Whatever you’re going to stay put and take a chance on the singles weekend in Moonlit Pines, or whatever you’re going to pack and head over here?” My jaw clenched. “And let me remind you, you come here, Cassie is going to be more upset than you could ever imagine.”
“Court,” I groaned, glancing around the main area of the town. It was a nice little place. A back lit window caught my eye.
“Call Cass and smooth shit out tomorrow morning.”
“You just let her go out with god knows—“
“With the girls from the team. They’re all going to be at the pool. You know, with their coaches?”
“I bet that football punk—“
“You mean Mace?”
“Bet Mace is going to be down there, too,” I muttered.
“And? What is it you think he is going to do? What do you think is going to happen?”
“She’s my little girl, Court.” I sighed softly.
“I know, honey, but she’s not that little anymore.” It stung, but the truth usually did.
“Right.” That was a bitter pill to swallow. “I’ll call her.”
“Tomorrow. Let her cool off today, and you go… I don’t know. Go for a walk, get some fresh air.”
“You’re not going to push me to go back into the brewery?”