“Wouldn’t matter. He’s been waiting to have the talk for weeks now. I think Ma was the only one holding him back.”
“It could be worse.”
Slowly, I quirked an eyebrow at my brother. “Yeah? How’s that?”
“Well…” He thought about it for a moment. “He might have invited Bailey’s mom over.”
He was right. That would have been worse. “If you don’t see me in an hour, throw yourself down the stairs.”
“You got it.” He clapped me hard on the back, sending me to my doom.
I had heard the lecture from pretty much everyone already. Pop was the only one who kept his mouth shut, but that was all about to change. I should have known he wouldn’t stay out of this.
Shoving open the screen door, I found him waiting at the end of the porch, sitting in his usual chair.
“Pop,” I said, taking my seat beside him.
At first, he didn’t say anything, which wasn’t unusual these days. After the ranch had to be converted to a staycation destination, his mood had plummeted and pretty much never recovered.
I had hoped the change would be easier on him. He was still young, not even sixty yet, but when the ranch changed, all the fight I normally found in my pop twisted him into the remnants of an old man who had given up the will to go on.
I hated seeing him this way—how he let life defeat him.
“Got any plans?”
“In general or for my life?” I asked, already on edge.
“About Bailey.”
So, he was going to come right out and say it.
“Pop, Bailey is no longer part of my life.”
“She could be.”
“No, she really can’t. She made it very clear that she didn’t want anything to do with me. I hurt her, and she can’t forgive me for that.”
“Son—”
“Pop, I’m not doing this. You and every other person in this family have already tried to convince me to win her back. I tried that and failed miserably. What more would you have me do?”
“Stop being a shit and get off your ass,” he snapped. “Son, you and that girl were meant to be together since you were running around in diapers. Love like that doesn’t come around very often.”
“You have it with Ma.”
He grunted, but otherwise didn’t comment. And that’s when I saw it, that far-off look in his eyes. The want and need for something he didn’t have.
Like he had settled.
“When you have a good thing, you know it.” He nodded toward the house. “I got lucky with your mother. She’s a good woman, and she puts up with a lot to be with me. Any other woman would have tossed me out on my ass years ago.”
“Pop—”
“I can’t stand to see you wasting your life away without her. I know you said she can’t forgive you, and maybe she even believes it, but are you really willing to walk away and not keep trying? Do you really want to know what it’ll be like if she’s not with you for the rest of your life?”
“I can’t just make her change her mind.”
“And why the hell not?”
