“Act like you need a babysitter, I’ll fucking give you one.”
He’d never seen this side of his youngest brother.
“You scared the hell out of Erin and Aunt Kathryn.Connor was making his usual lame excuses for your behavior.That’s enough.Grandfather is right, you can put both of your hands up your ass and pull your head out.Or you can give up your seat on the board.”
“The Colonel said that?”
“I might have improvised,” Nathan said.
“Improvised?”
“A bit.”
“A bit?”
“He’d have said it if he’d have thought it.”
“So what did he say?”
“That you need to step into your responsibilities or get them taken away.Accused Connor of enabling you.So Erin and Aunt Kathryn were beside themselves with worry.Connor took a tongue-lashing that belonged to you, the Colonel is pissed, we were thinking of calling your mother, we talked to your foreman, and here I am.You had a hell of a Friday, big brother.Wouldn’t Dad be proud?”
If Nathan had physically punched him, Cade couldn’t have felt the blow more keenly.
Many times in his life, he’d been a dick.But this week, first with Sofia then with his family, he’d risen to previously uncharted heights.
“Yeah.”Cade went inside and was relieved to see Loopy sleeping contentedly near her food bowl.At least she had a few chunks of dry food in there and water in her dish.Thank God he hadn’t been completely derelict in his responsibilities.
Loopy yawned and stood, stretching her paws before following him.
He brushed his teeth then got in the shower and allowed the hot spray to punish him.Eventually the steam managed to lift the fog that coated his brain.He tried to piece together the events of the last couple of days.
Sofia had left late Wednesday.He’d stayed up half the night brooding, worrying about where she’d spent the night.He’d phoned her, texted her to check on her, but she’d ignored him.He’d wondered if she had gone back to her mom’s house.If so, no doubt Mrs.McBride thought he was a schmuck—rightfully so.Then he’d thought that maybe she’d gotten a hotel.In Waltham?Or Corpus?He’d offered a quick prayer that she hadn’t driven all the way back to Houston.It would have been two in the morning before she’d arrived.
Why the hell had he let pride stand in the way?He should have stopped her, insisted she stay.
He’d been frustrated and hung-over at work on Thursday.He’d called her again when he’d taken a lunch break, but she’d sent him straight to voicemail.By then, he had been getting worried.She’d refused all his calls.So he’d called the Houston division of Encore.He’d been told that Ms.McBride was at work but was unable to take phone calls.
Momentary relief had washed through him.But it had been quickly followed by a flash of annoyance.It would have cost her nothing to send a text message to ease his worry.From there, regret had threatened to drag him into its familiar pit.
Cade had kept himself busy with the ranch books on Thursday evening, managing, for a while, to outrun the demons.He’d been planning to drive to Houston on Friday morning, ridiculously early, if for no other reason than he had a vehicle and could drive to see Sofia afterward.And he was curious to know why Erin had gone ahead and signed the contract, and intrigued to know what others had thought of her decision.
But he’d gone to bed too late and he’d had so much booze that he’d slept through his alarm.He’d tried calling Sofia repeatedly and heard her professional voicemail more times than he could count.At some point, he’d spiked his phone onto the ground.
After that, things became fuzzy.
As Nathan had said, their dad would have had no reason to be proud.That burned his craw as bad as anything.
He shut off the water and got out, wrapped a towel around his waist then shaved.Once he was dressed like a civilized human being, he joined Nathan in the kitchen.
A full pot of manna sat on the counter, and Nathan was wearing the Texas apron.He looked ridiculous.
“I fucked up.”
“Again,” Nathan said, still with that annoyingly chipper note in his voice.
Cade poured himself a cup of coffee.
“I looked at the calendar,” Nathan said.“Wasn’t the anniversary.”
