Chapter 25
Camden
My dad’s smile fades. “What?”
“You should have kept your mouth shut then, just like you should shut it now.”
His expression turns serious. “Camden, don’t speak to me like that. I’m your father.”
I roll my eyes and shake my head. “Look at your fiancée, Dad. You think she’s in the mood to hear you tell stories about getting into public fights with your ex-wife?”
His brow furrows as he gazes at me, like he’s never been more confused.
“Camden, I was just telling a funny story.”
“It’s not a funny story,” I snap, annoyed and angry that he’s still this clueless. “It’s not funny that you cheated on Mom, and that’s why you two got divorced. It’s not funny that she’s still mad at you after all these years because that’s proof of how much you hurt her. Did that ever occur to you? That maybe she doesn’t date after all these years because you did a number on her when you cheated on her with her best friend? And maybe that’s why she’s still angry with you and picks fights with you, because you betrayed her in the worst way and never even apologized for it?”
“Wait, you cheated?” Jenna asks him. She looks stricken as she waits for my dad to answer her.
His face goes pale as he stammers. He turns to her. “Sweetie, it was a long time ago.”
I scrub a hand over the side of my face and stand up. I glance over at Jenna and feel a pang of guilt land at the center of my chest. As much as my dad deserves to be told off, Jenna doesn’t deserve to get hurt.
“I’m sorry,” I say to her. “We should go.”
Ellie stands up and follows me out of the bar and back to our room.
“Fuck,” I mutter when we walk through the door.
Ellie touches my hand softly. “Hey. Are you okay?”
I shake my head. “Not really. I probably blew up my dad’s engagement just now. I kind of feel like shit.”
“That’s not your fault, Camden. Your dad should have been honest with Jenna. It sounds like he was hiding that from her.”
I’m quiet for a second as I look at her.
“And it wasn’t cool the way he was joking about your mom like that. I really respect you for defending her.”
That knot of guilt inside of me starts to loosen. “You really think that?”
She nods. “I…I didn’t know that’s why your parents fought so much when you were a kid. Because your dad cheated on your mom.”
I let out a heavy breath and sit down on the edge of the bed. “He really hurt her. And it makes me mad that he doesn’t seem to realize just how much.”
Ellie sits next to me.
“That must have been really upsetting for you to be around as a kid,” she says.
“It was rough. I hated all the fighting and screaming. I just wanted to get away from it all.”
Ellie looks at me for a long moment. “That’s why you were always hanging out at my house when we were kids, wasn’t it?”
“Well, that and your mom always had the best snacks. Those peanut butter-filled pretzels she always fed me were my favorite.”
Ellie chuckles and snorts softly. The tension in my neck muscles loosens. God, I love hearing her laugh.
“That’s why you were involved in so many activities as a kid too, right?” she asks.
