Chapter 16 #2
“Regret to inform you, bro. Lila is right in this case. I’m not just being a contrarian.
We have, at the moment, an opportunity for real growth.
We have eyes on us right now, we need to capitalize on that.
That’s my thing. I might not have facts and figures for you, but you can trust me.
Marketing has never been easier. I’m getting inquiries all the time.
Different brands wanting to know if we can sell their wine, their beef, different products in gift stores.
It’s making me think we really need to up the offerings in the resort hotel. ”
“Really? All that is happening?”
“Yes. I heard that Cara got a call about distribution for her baked goods. Or even having them manufactured somewhere so they can be sold in the store. Because from the whole runaway bride story, we got more focus on the strawberry rolls.”
“I just... hell. I just can’t believe it.”
Cody stood there, looking some kind of baffled that Walker had never seen before.
“You really don’t know what to do when things go well, do you?”
“No,” Cody said. “I surely don’t. And here I am... I’m going to propose to her,” Cody said.
Walker felt like he got whiplash. “What?”
“Marlowe. I’m going to propose to Marlowe.”
“You’ve only been with her for three months.”
“I know. I don’t care. I love her and I want to spend the rest of my life with her.
I know that. And the only thing holding me back has been this horrible feeling that nothing actually works out for us.
I mainly worked through that. Mainly, but every so often it all creeps up.
And now the business is going really well, and I’m afraid to touch anything.
If I touch it, it’s all going to fall apart.
I had already decided that I was going to propose, and then Lila brought all that up—”
“Nothing’s going to crumble,” Walker said.
“This is actually the effect of all your hard work. I know it’s difficult to believe, but it is.
You made this happen. You worked your fucking ass off in the rodeo, you earned all that money.
And before that, you took care of us. Everything that I’ve achieved is because of you. ”
Walker felt discomfort rise up in his stomach, and he knew that he had to be sincere. Fuck. But he had told Addison. And it wasn’t actually that he didn’t trust her, but it was possible that she could tell somebody and...
“I just need to tell you, you’re more like a father to me than...
no, that sounds weird. You’re my older brother.
And the position of father doesn’t mean jack shit to me.
Because I had you. Because you looked out for us.
You protected us. Because you set me up so that I could go into the rodeo, so that I could use that money to send myself to college, so that I could get everything that I have now.
It’s all because of you, Cody. Without you, none of it exists.
And we help you along now, I’m not minimizing that.
But if it weren’t for you, if it weren’t for the way that you took care of us all that time, we would have nothing.
We would just be part of that same cycle. ”
Cody looked like he wasn’t sure what to say to that. Which was fine. Walker sort of wished that he hadn’t said it. But he had to. And then more.
“David Reynolds isn’t my dad.”
“I know,” Cody said.
“No, I don’t mean that in the way that we’ve talked about it before, where we’re pretty sure. I mean, I know.”
Cody looked out at the horizon, his hat shading his expression just slightly. “All right.”
“Is that it?”
“Like you said. We were pretty sure about that already.”
“Well, yeah, but isn’t it kind of... isn’t it a little bit of a surprise that you know for sure? Kind of. But also not really. That’s very you.”
“What the hell does that mean?”
“Exactly what it sounds like. You’re not the kind of guy that likes to share things, Walker. You don’t tell people what’s going on with you. You pretend to. You’re a good listener, you give great conversation, but I’m very aware that you don’t like to share what’s going on with you.”
That made him mad. He wasn’t even sure why.
Because it was true. That was actually why it made him mad.
Because Cody could see him, perceive him.
Because he was acting the wrong way about this.
He should be mad at him. He should be mad at him for keeping that secret and not trusting him with the truth about himself.
He should be. It would be perfectly reasonable for him to be pissed off, and he wasn’t even pissed off.
He thought that he knew everything about Walker, in the sense that he knew that he didn’t know everything about Walker. In the sense that he believed that Walker would always withhold information.
“I slept with Addison.”
Cody looked at him, blinked rapidly. At least he had the decency to look surprised about that.
“Really?”
“Yep. Last night.”
“Took you that long?”
His face was hot with indignation. “To be fair, I didn’t offer until last night. Took approximately five seconds when she found out it was on the table.”
“That’s not what I meant. And you know that. You’ve had a thing for her for years.”
“No, I haven’t.”
“Yes, you have. That’s the thing, Walker, you don’t tell me things, but I’m not a dumbass.
I watched you handle this whole wedding thing, and you just put up with all that bullshit from her.
I know that you did it because you have a thing for her.
I think you felt like doing her wedding was going to be an exorcism of a sort. ”
“As in getting that demon out of my life?”
“She’s not a demon. We both know it.”
He did know it. He felt like an ass even saying that after everything that they had shared last night, and worse, he even felt like he needed to go and confess to her that he’d said that.
God.
“Of course she’s not. She’s just another complicated fucking human. Like us. Like everybody.”
“What has you feeling confessional today?” Realization slowly dawned on Cody as soon as the question was done being asked. “Oh. Her.”
Walker growled and started to walk away from Cody.
“No, no, don’t go. I like this. You are perennially unbothered by everything. You sit around and smoothly give advice to all of us and act like nothing means anything. You’re having a breakdown.”
“I’m not having a breakdown. I’m getting laid.”
“Yeah, with the woman that you’ve had a thing for since high school. Hell, middle school. And you’re a disaster. You told her about your dad, didn’t you?”
“Fuck,” Walker said, turning away again.
“You really like her.”
“I don’t really like her. I had a thing that I needed to do to put the past behind me. Sleeping with her was something that just had to happen. But she and I are oil and water at best. And even if we weren’t, I’m not you, Cody. I’m not going to propose to anyone. Not ever.”
“I don’t know, Walker, it seems to me that if you have a thing for somebody and it lasts years, and you can’t seem to do anything to get rid of the feelings...”
“Then you’re our mother.”