“Me too,” Eveline grins.
“Well,” Val clears his throat. “Shall we sit?”
Everyone takes their seats. Suddenly, Val frowns as he glances around.
“There’s only four chairs.”
Val’s mouth thins as he looks at me. “Where the fuck is Dad’s chair?” he growls. “He’ll be here any?—”
“He’s not coming,” I say quietly.
“Excuse me?” he growls. “Why the fucknot, Vaughn?”
Here we go.
I clear my throat. “What I’m about to tell you is going to make me the bad guy.”
“What thefuck…” Val hisses.
“Val,” Evelina says quietly. “Just…listen to him, please?”
He scowls, but drags his gaze back to me. “Fine, I'll bite.Whatis going to make you the bad guy?”
So, so much.
I draw in a breath and exhale it slowly. “Morgan isn’t who you think he is, Val.”
My brother’s face darkens. “You havegotto be joking, Vaughn,” he hisses. “If you don’t want a relationship with our father,fine. ButIfuckingdo!”
“No, you don’t,” I growl. “Trust me.”
He barks a laugh. “Why would I? You obviously can’t let go of your anger toward him. And dude, I won’t ever try to tell you that your pain isn’t valid. ButI’m fucking trying, okay!? I’ve beentryingto get to know him, and spend time with him, and make up for all this lost time. Sofuck youfor trying to sabotage?—”
“Has he told you about his other family yet?” I snap. “Has that come up?”
Val’s eyes glint as sharp as mine as they narrow on me.
“Whatever the fuck you’re trying to pull, you arewayover the fucking line?—”
“Here.”
I pull an envelope out of my pocket and drop it in front of him.
“I’m not opening that.”
“Okay,” I growl. “But it’s the proof, since you don’t believe me.” I nod at it. “Morgan got himself a new family, Val. A wife and two boys, way down in Georgia.” I smile coldly. “He got himself a do-over.”
Val scoffs. “You’re unbelievable. The man is allowed to have alife, motherfucker. Yeah, his first one fell apart. He was an addict, and a shit father, and he lost both his kids, and his wife.” He glares at me. “So what if he got sober and wanted to start over? Is he noteverallowed to be happy?—”
“If he didn’t tell you about the other family,” I say dryly, “then I'm guessing hedefinitelydidn’t tell you about walking out on them.”
Val turns to stone. “The fuck do you mean he walked out,” he says icily.
I sigh. “I mean he left them. Abandoned them. But I guess that wasn’t in the ‘Dad comes back from the dead’ brochure, was it?”
Val’s jaw grinds. “I can’t imagine he justleftfor no fucking reason,” he growls.
“Oh, there was a reason.”
