Chapter four
Cashlynn
“Dad?” Walking through the front door of my father’s house again makes this seem all the more real.
“In the kitchen, June Bug.” His voice echoes through the house, and I know there’s no turning back now.
I set my purse on the couch and make my way to the kitchen, preparing to face the music and start putting the pieces of the mess I’ve created back together.
This trip wasn’t supposed to be this complicated. Quitting my job and moving to Carrington Cove was definitely not on my bucket list. Then again, I hadn’t expected to feel trapped in Philadelphia, drowning in lawsuits over jargon I’d long stopped caring about.
This isn’t the life I’d envisioned for myself.
And if I’m going to make a change, I need to do it now.
The realization that I’m about to be thirty slammed into me like a freight train a few months ago.
It’s time I started living my life for myself, but making my father understand that isn’t going to be easy.
“Glad to see you made your way back home,” I say as I enter the kitchen and find my father making a sandwich, his cane resting against the counter and Johnny Cash playing on the record player in the dining room.
I guess some things never change—one of them being my father’s obsession with Johnny Cash.
He scoffs. “Well, there’s only so much I can do at the hospital with Beth hovering over me and everyone afraid to look at me.” Irritation laces his words, but he seems to be in better spirits than when I left him to chase after Parker.
“You’re never going to heal if you don’t rest.”
“I fell, June Bug…It’s not like I had my leg amputated.”
“I know, but you’re not getting any younger, Dad. Beth is worried sick about you, and I think it’s time you consider passing along the practice…”
He turns to face me, his eyes narrowing as he sets down his knife. “Is that why you came home? To tell your geriatric father to hang up his white coat for good? Or was it really to see that fiancé of yours?” His words are accusatory, and my stomach twists.
God, poor Parker.
I feel terrible for dragging him into this, but when I saw him, I panicked.
I knew we’d cross paths eventually, but it completely threw me off to see him in that moment—like all the decisions I’ve made over the past year collided at once.
“I know you have questions…”
“You bet your ass I do.” His neck and face begin to turn red—an unmistakable signal I learned early on meant he was about to blow up. “My daughter shows up out of the blue, tells me she’s engaged to a man I work with, and—”
I cut him off before he gets too far into that list of grievances. “I haven’t been happy in Philadelphia for a long time, Dad.”
He reaches for his cane and walks over to the record player to stop the music, then to his recliner in the living room.
As he sinks into his chair, he eyes me skeptically while I make my way to the couch across from him.
The tense silence resting between us starts to make me squirm.
“You’re throwing your life away, all of your hard work and a career you’ve always wanted, for a man? ”
“That’s not it at all!”
“Then explain it to me,” he says, the volume of his voice rising. “Because I hoped you’d come to Carrington Cove eventually, but not like this.”
I shift uncomfortably on the couch. I’ve only been to this town one other time, right after my grandfather passed and Dad took over the practice.
I was with my grandmother most of that visit while my dad dealt with the funeral arrangements and taking over a business overnight.
Just a few weeks later, I was off to Cornell to study law just like I planned—well, like my father planned for me.
After finishing law school, I moved to Philadelphia, claiming the decision was because I loved the city, though it wasn’t the work that drew me there.
But my father has no idea about what really drew me there.
Over the years, he would either visit me in Pennsylvania, or we’d meet up in Raleigh when I traveled there for work—like the weekend I met Parker.
The man my father always spoke so highly of was suddenly right there on the plane next to me.
I felt like I’d met a celebrity. Then I realized how attractive, funny, and caring he was, and I slept with him.
Looking back now, that probably wasn’t the best idea I’ve ever had, but I don’t regret it.
That night was incredible. My only remorse is that I left him so abruptly, but I had to.
I couldn’t take another moment of the lies resting between us.
I take a deep breath of courage before I continue. “I needed a change, and when Beth told me you were hurt, I just reacted. And Parker is here. That job, that life…” I stare off into space for a minute, gathering my thoughts. “It’s not what I want.”
He frowns. “Yes, it is.”
“No, it’s what you wanted for me.”
Our eyes meet and, for a second, I swear I see a flash of remorse in his. But it disappears just as quickly as it came. “I wanted you to have stability. To make smart choices. To build a life that would last.”
“I know.”
He sighs. “If that makes me a bad father, then so be it.” The defensiveness rolling off him is exactly why I’ve been putting this off.
“You’re not a bad father. I love you and appreciate everything you’ve ever done for me, but you pushed me into a life you thought was best because you didn’t want me to end up like Mom.”
Just mentioning her has my father going stiff.
Losing your mother at sixteen is something no person should ever have to go through. But growing up with a father who was never the same after she died? That’s another experience that can scar you just the same.
He stares across the room for a moment, his jaw tight and his hands balled into fists as he rocks back and forth in his chair.
“But at twenty-nine, I realized that I felt stuck and numb, Dad. You can’t be mad at me for wanting more for myself.”
His gaze drifts back to mine. “I’m not mad, June Bug. I’m just worried. You come here and announce you’re engaged to a man I didn’t even know you were seeing—a man I’ve been working with for the past six years, no less. Forgive me for being a little concerned.”
I stand from my spot on the couch and walk over to him, taking his hand. “I’m sorry for keeping things from you and surprising you like this. But when Beth called me, I knew I had to come check on you, and it felt like the right time to tell you about the changes in my life, too.”
“I’m fine.”
I tilt my head to the side as I look down at him. “I think you’ve established that. But like I said, you’re not getting any younger, and falling is a sign—”
“That what? I’m clumsy? Because that’s all it was. I missed a step.”
“What were you doing, anyway?”
He darts his eyes from mine. “I was going down to the basement.”
“For what?”
“Just…stuff.” His evasiveness should concern me, but this is my father’s house. He deserves his privacy and now’s not the time to push him further.
“Either way, I don’t like you living alone.”
“Well, I’ve been alone for the past eleven years since you left for Cornell, and I don’t plan on changing that anytime soon. Except you’re here now and need a place to stay…
“I’ll be staying with Parker,” I say, hoping that once I speak to him, he’ll agree and I won’t have to go back on that lie. Besides, it’s going to be much easier for me to accomplish what I need to without living under my father’s nose.
Taking a step back, I push a hand through my hair, hoping he can’t see how badly my hands are shaking from my nerves.
My dad leans back in his chair and begins rocking again. “So, you ready to tell me how that relationship came to be?”
Uh, no. I need to make sure that Parker is going to go along with my lie first.
Not to mention, we should get our story straight so we can put on a united front.
Having a fake fiancé was not originally part of my plan, but I think it might help me see this through.
My father will have something else to focus on while I attempt to figure out my life, and since Parker’s not a complete stranger, hopefully it will be easy to act the part.
Yeah, good luck with that, Cashlynn. Try not to remember what Parker Sheppard felt like hovering over you that night while your father questions how the hell you two met.
Jesus, why did I have to drag Parker into this mess with me?
Hopefully, he’ll humor me and support me yet again, just like he did on the plane.
“Let’s all have dinner together in a few days,” I suggest, carefully keeping my voice casual.
“I’m seeing Parker tonight, so I’ll make sure he’s free sometime this week, and then you can ask us both whatever you want.
” My smile is making my cheeks burn, but I need some time to get my ducks in a row.
“Fine. But that boy has a lot of explaining to do. You both do.”
I give his hand a gentle squeeze. “Don’t be too hard on him.
He respects you immensely, Dad. And…I love him.
” I reach out to smooth his graying hair as I swallow down the lies that keep spewing from my lips.
“If you think about it, our relationship is what brought me here. You can’t be mad at him for that. ”
My father glares up at me from his seat. “I can be as mad as I want, June.”
“Your grumpy old man is showing,” I tease, leaning down to press a kiss to the top of his head.
He clasps my hand before I can get too far. “I am happy to have you home.”
“This is your home, Dad. But now, it’s going to be mine too.”
***