Take Me with You (Take Me #2)(78)

“But he didn’t draw a gun,” Aribel said. “He actually dismantled your gun and tossed it when he had the chance. I don’t think he was there to hurt you at all.”

“My father doesn’t always work with physical pain.”

“I’m sorry, but I’m going to have to side with Aribel on this,” my uncle said.

“You know what he did to me!” I said, standing from my chair.

“Grant, sit down,” Ari said.

She tugged on my arm until I complied and then laced our fingers together for support.

“I know what happened that night. And I also know what happened the thirteen years after that with both you and your father. You only have one side of the story because you refused to learn anything else about what had happened.”

I shrugged. “I still don’t want to know.”

“But I do!” Ari said. “You promised.”

And I had. I would promise her the world for the pain I’d f*cking put her through. She shouldn’t have had to deal with my father showing up, unannounced, at her place, stalking her, and she certainly shouldn’t have had to deal with me almost shooting her.

“Fine.”

“While your father was in prison, he didn’t sit in there and fester. He was released on parole for good behavior. He’d completely passed the psych exam they’d put him through. He had gone through years of therapy for PTSD, frequently seeing a specialist in military psychiatry, and worked with doctors to medicate the problems he was having. When he got out of jail, he was set up in a halfway house in between here and Princeton. He’s been working part-time as a mechanic, and he has weekly checkups with his parole officer.”

My uncle levelly looked at me. “I realize none of this can bring your mother back…my sister back, but he is trying to make things right. And the thing he regrets the most…is that he missed you growing up, that he doesn’t know you, Grant.”

“How can you believe what he’s said? He could have made all of that up,” I said.

“He’s not making it up. I’ve seen the psych papers, the medical records, his release paperwork. He brought them to me from his parole officer last week.”

“Why didn’t you say anything?” Ari asked. “I mean…you know how Grant feels about all of this. Don’t you think you should have prepared him?”

“He said he had to be the one to make this work, that he wanted to make amends. He wanted you to trust him again. He wanted to be worthy of your love…if you could ever care for him like that again. I did try to tell him that you wouldn’t be receptive, but I don’t think he understood. Still, I recognized that if I were in the same situation as him, I would want to be the one to explain to Sydney.”

I shook my head. “I don’t know what to think about all that,” I said finally.

“Well, sleep on it,” my uncle said. He seemed to recognize that I wasn’t going to suddenly agree with everything he’d said. “You don’t have to make any decisions about Mike tonight. It sounds as if it’s been a traumatic long evening. Why don’t I get you a pizza and some drinks? You kids can spend some time here and then come stay the night at our home when you’re done. We can talk more then, if you want, or in the morning.”

“Whatever,” I said, pushing back my chair again.

I didn’t need pizza or a drink to fix my problems. I needed to get away from here. I turned away from my uncle and Ari, hopped down the stairs to the sandy beach, and started out toward the waterfront.

I’d just found out that while I’d been at home, tormented and brooding about my father, he’d been in jail getting top-notch treatment. While I’d wanted him to be in jail forever for murdering my mother, he’d gotten out on good behavior. While I had worried about him hurting me or Ari since he got out of jail, he had been schmoozing with my uncle and swapping stories behind my back. He didn’t deserve any of it.

None of this seemed okay with me.

With a heavy sigh, I watched Grant bolt toward the beach. Frankly, this had gone better than I had expected. I was sure he felt betrayed by the fact that his uncle had known some of what was going on and hadn’t told him. It wasn’t fair to Grant to have been left in the dark.

But the good news was, it actually sounded like his father was on the right path. It seemed he had legitimately dedicated himself to getting help and bettering himself, so when he’d gotten out, he could have a real shot at getting to see Grant again. It confirmed what I’d already guessed when I saw his father break down in front of him. Mike had meant every word of that speech.

“I didn’t mean to upset him like this in front of you,” Randy said.

“It’s okay. He just needs time. And he’s right in being upset because you were keeping things from him.”

“I didn’t want to, believe me. I wanted to tell him so many times. I probably should have.”

“Yes, you should have.” I ran my hand back through my hair. “I’m going to go talk to him. Thank you for telling us everything.”

Randy smiled sadly. “He’s lucky to have you, Aribel.”

I remembered the sound of the gunshot, the sickening tear of plaster, and the way my body had rocked to the ground. I shuddered. I was holding it together for Grant out of necessity because Randy was right. Grant was lucky he had me. Anyone else might have already fallen apart.