Accidental Knight: A Marriage Mistake Romance(69)

We both open them and take a drink at the same time.

Christ. Can this get more awkward?

“Gramps had a heart of gold.” She sets her bottle on the table. “There’s hardly a person in town who’d ever say different.”

“Except for your ma,” I say, trying to lighten the mood.

She smiles slightly. “Yeah, well, she’s hated him forever. Kinda goes with the territory.”

The way her little tongue flicks out between her teeth, a mock tease, sends lightning arcing through my body. Goddamn. This girl doesn’t know her own power with the slightest gesture to make me a rock-hard, raving lunatic – and at the worst times, too – or I really am that far gone.

“He didn’t like that,” I say, trying to ground us again. “The feud that was between him and Molly. He said if it wasn’t for you, he’d have cut the purse strings long ago. He waited too long for his son to wisen up, and knew it wouldn’t ever happen with Gary.”

She nods and sits down, hands propping up her chin. “I believe it. Gramps couldn’t stand them.”

I step back and lean against the kitchen island, knowing I need to keep my distance. “I don’t.”

“What?” She does a double take.

“I don’t believe he truly felt that way. He convinced himself he should, maybe, but family was too important. Gary was his only child, and though he showered all the love he could on you, he regretted not being closer to him. Think he always hoped that somehow, someway, they’d come to their senses and bury the fucking hatchet.”

Bella shakes her head, green eyes wavering a little. “How do you know that?”

“He told me. Not in those exact words, but I read between the lines, and he knew I did. It was while we were fishing in Montana at the lodge. He’d been so happy to be there again. I had a hell of a time keeping up with him, truth be told. He was up every day at the crack of dawn, poles in his hand and a thermos of coffee, wondering why I hadn’t showered yet.”

That gets a smile, turning up her heart-shaped lips.

“It wasn’t till the third or fourth day that we’d been there when he told me about bringing Gary there once when he’d been young, and then how sorry he was that he’d missed so much about having a son. He’d hoped for years Gary would come around, see all that he was missing. Think he blamed himself for causing Gary to run off with your ma, too, the first pretty face who gave him attention. Running a company like North Earhart in the old days didn’t leave much time to be father of the year. He swore things would’ve been different if his wife hadn’t died while your old man was in high school.”

She twirls her water bottle in a circle. “Maybe. Maybe not. But there’s no changing what didn’t happen, is there?”

Obviously, but fuck if I’m willing to admit that to her, right here and right now.

“Jonah was convinced Molly stepped in at just the right time. A point in your dad’s life when he needed a shoulder to cry on. Someone he didn’t have to be the strong one for, and then...” I shrug. “Before too long, it was hard for him to change anything.”

A grimace forms, and she takes another swallow of water. “Wow. You two really did talk about everything, didn’t you?”

“Yeah. Wasn’t a one-way street, in case you’re wondering...” An internal debate erupts inside me, but in the end, I decide to tell her another fraction of what Jonah and me discussed. “Sometimes we talked about my family, too.”

She pauses, hand on the water bottle. “What about it?”

I pause, wondering where to start. “I hadn’t been home in years after the military. Even though I’d gotten letters and talked to them on the phone, I wasn’t prepared. My sister said my father had dementia, but he’d known who I was the minute I walked in the door. Our ma died of cancer when we’d been in grade school. I packed up and went into the service, while sis stayed behind in the same little town. When she married Nathan, he moved into the house with her and Dad. Didn’t last. Nathan moved out when they got a divorce.”

I try not to growl his name. I’d never liked asshole Nathan, and I was glad when he got out of the picture, except for when it came to Sherry and Terry. Kids need their parents. Both of them.

“Drake. What weren’t you prepared for?”

Shit, everything.

I clear my throat. “My sis, Angie, was busy sending Dad to a care facility while she worked and the kids were in school. She said he couldn’t be left home alone. I didn’t believe her, and the cost of sending him there was more than what our old man’s social security check was each month. I should’ve been sending them money all along, but neither of them fessed up and ever told me they needed help.” The truth I now know, is that I may not have believed that either.

I’m quiet too long.

That’s why Bella perks up and whispers, “What happened?”

She knows something did.

I have to look away from the sympathy in her eyes. It’s the last damn thing in the world I deserve.

“I had plenty of money, so I told her that I didn’t need to find a job right way and would take over looking after Dad. She argued it wouldn’t work. That we shouldn’t upset the schedule he was used to. I insisted, told her I wouldn’t get worn out like she had. It couldn’t be that hard. At first, it wasn’t. He was forgetful. Got confused real easy, but we had some good times together.” I still can’t look at her and I press my feet harder against the floor to keep myself from leaving the room.