32. Jules #2
“Yah!” Charlie cries. In a flash, Maggie has the diaper bag tossed over her shoulder, and she’s bustling Jackson through the front door.
“Okay, let’s get this sorted.” I lead the siblings to the couches at the back of the shop and prepare to play mediator.
Dani holds her hands out. “Cal. Please don’t start. Let me explain first.”
He crosses his arms over his chest. “ Talk.”
I shove him. “Don’t be an asshole older brother. Your sister needs you to be on her side.”
He drops his arms. “What are you talking about? I am on her side. I am always on her side. For nearly three years, I’ve been on her side.
I’m the one who sent her money for a place to stay with Charlie.
I’m the one who offered her to come live with me.
Hell. I even chose the apartment upstairs with the sole intent of having Dani and Charlie come live with me.
I’ve been begging her to let me take care of them.
And how’d she repay that? She ditched her kid.
I don’t know what else I’m supposed to do, Jules.
You tell me. I’d try cutting her off, but clearly, she’s too immature to make a rational, safe decision and try to better her life. ”
“Wow. Okay. Tell me how you really feel,” I quip. But clearly, he’s kept this bottled up.
“Dani—” I turn to address her. “Can you please bring me up to speed? Because I’m missing a bunch of the equation right now, and all I know is Cal’s side.
So he’s going to sit quietly”—I shoot him a warning glare to keep his mouth shut—“and try not to stew too much while you tell me your side of the story.”
“Okay. The TL;DR is that Ritchie was in jail. When he got out, I brought Charlie up here to Cal’s place. Ritchie doesn’t know Charlie is his.”
Cal emits a low sound, and Dani glares at him. “He doesn’t.”
“Tell me about that,” I say, trying to get us back on track.
“I found out I was pregnant right before he went to jail. I never told him. Never told anyone. Played it off like I wasn’t sure who the daddy was. I was really careful when we were together after he got out to not mention Charlie. I wanted to see what kind of person he’d be once he got out. ”
Cal scrubs a hand down his face. “Jesus, Dani. You were seventeen.”
“Yeah. Well. I took a page from Tabby’s playbook and kept everyone guessing. But I am nothing like that bitch.”
It spoke volumes that she was okay with everyone thinking she slept around a lot. “Who’s Tabby?”
“Our mom,” they say in unison.
“Don’t act like you hate her now,” Cal directs to Dani. “You were just calling me asking me to bail her out a few days ago.”
“Well, she was standing right there listening to me.”
That shuts him up.
“But part of what I told you before was the truth. I was tired. I did need a break from being mom twenty-four seven.”
Cal’s jaw flexes, but he keeps his mouth shut this time.
“Anyway. For whatever reason, Tabby and Ritchie were bailed out before me. I had to make a deal with the prosecutor in order to get released. And when I got home that day, I rolled up and found Ritchie fucking Tabby.”
“Your mom and your boyfriend?” I cannot fathom what she’s telling me. “That’s…”
“Fucked up.” She picks at a loose thread on her distressed jeans. “Yeah. That was the final straw. I packed what I could fit in my backpack and got the hell out.”
“So how’d you get here?”
“I drove.”
Cal groans. “Dani, that was stupid as fuck. Did you steal the man’s car? No wonder he’s calling you.”
“No, you jerk.” Her eye roll is epic as she continues, “I saved from the money you sent me and bought my own. I found the cheapest place I could stay and managed to save enough that I could get a used car. ”
Cal’s head snaps back. He didn’t expect that. Good for her for clapping back. “Bet Tabby loved that.”
“She hated it. Kept wanting me to share what you’d send to me. It only took once for her to spend it all on booze and drugs, and I stopped. I told her that you cut back and sent less and less. Sorry I had to make you the bad guy.”
“It’s fine. Not like there’s any love lost between me and her.”
“So Ritchie keeps calling you now. What does he want?” I try to steer us back to the original conversation.
“I don’t know. Probably just wants to make some excuse about cheating.”
“But you can’t be sure,” Cal states. “Do you want me to talk to him?”
She lifts a shoulder. “Maybe eventually. I think he’ll get bored and give up eventually. In the meantime”—tears pool in her eyes—“I just want to find a way to start over.”
“Okay, Sis. Okay.” Finally, the warm, caring man I’ve come to know shows. He stands and pulls his sister in for a hug, then opens his arms to me, and the three of us are hugging it out. It’s only awkward for a second, before I relax and enfold this misguided young girl in a safe embrace.
It reminds me of how Cal was desperate for touch and affection when we first met. These two have been through so much I’ll probably never understand. But I know family. And being there when one of my family members needs a hand.
Dani needs us now. Charlie needs us now. So we are going to band together and help them with their new start.
The front door opens, and Charlie comes barreling in, racing to her mother’s arms, Maggie and Jackson in tow.
Part of me wants to bring them into the fold, but since it’s not my story to tell, I let it go.
The two of them head off to do their day of zip-lining, and the rest of us head upstairs for lunch and naptime.
In the afternoon, we take Charlie back to the park before going home and having a pizza and movie night.
Dani’s phone rings incessantly for an hour, which brings out Cal’s scowl again, but once it’s clear that she’s not going to give in and answer, he relaxes. “Be on your toes tomorrow,” he warns both Dani and me. “I wish I could take off and be here with you.”
I scoff. “We’ll be fine.”
“At this point, I think he’s just being a turd who won’t give up. He can’t stand that I ditched him.”
It’s not until I’m crawling into Cal’s bed that I realize I didn’t worry once about the coffee shop.