I found everyone in the usual place, the kitchen, gathered around the table while Gunner of all people was cooking what looked and smelled like Thai food. He was like a new man since he’d got with Cassidy—in the kitchen at least.
“Hey, you’re back.” Lily’s face softened, shiny blue eyes looking up at me. “How was it?”
Shrugging, I pulled a chair out, the legs scraping across the floor causing Billy to jerk his gaze away from the toy car he was rolling between the silverware already on the table.
Nash brushed a gentle hand over Billy’s dark waves. “Looks like it didn’t go well.”
“It was okay,” I admitted. “I realized that he was basically a…” I looked around making sure Bertie wasn’t around, “…dick who was just jealous of his kids. He pretty much admitted that he cheated on Mom because she gave us all her attention.”
“Really?” Gunner blinked slowly. “He actually said that?”
“Yeah.”
Lily set down her mug with more force than necessary. “I’m sorry, what? He blamed you boys for his terrible choices?” Her voice rose slightly before she caught herself. “That’s…that unconscionable.”
“You’re not surprised are you?” Nash asked. “He’ll say and do anything to apportion blame away from himself. Look what he did to you, Lila?”
My father fucking blackmailed Lily to disappear for almost ten years, breaking both hers and Nash’s hearts, so my brother was right.
Cassidy pushed a bottle of beer toward me. “Here you go sweetie, it looks like you need it.”
“Thanks.” I flashed her a smile, but I didn’t feel it anywhere but in the pull of my lips.
She pulled out a chair and sat down. “Wild, I know I didn’t know your mom, but from everything Gunner has told me, she sounds like she was just being a good mother. What kind of man resents his children for that?”
“The kind who should never have been a father in the first place,” Lily muttered, her hands moving to wrap protectively around her coffee mug. “What else did he say?” she asked. “Because you look like you’ve been through the wringer.”
Cassidy nodded in agreement. “She’s right. There’s something else, isn’t there?”
“Yet he also looks remarkably satisfied,” Nash added with a crooked grin.
I flipped him the finger and allowed myself a smile that felt more real. How could it not be when it was because of Tally. I wasn’t going to deny it, but I wasn’t going to admit it either. My thoughts about her were foggy enough as it was without me bringing my brother’s opinion into the mix. Either of them.
Lily’s eyes narrowed knowingly, but she didn’t press. Instead, she exchanged a quick look with Cassidy, one of those silent conversations thatonly women could seem to master.
“Listen,” I said with a quick breath. “There’s something Dad told me that I need to talk to you about.”
Cassidy straightened, her eyes darting toward Gunner. “This sounds serious.”
Lily shifted in her seat, giving me her full attention in a way that made me feel both supported and slightly exposed.
Feet thundered on the stairs and across the entryway as Bertie came rushing in. Her braids were more out than in, her cheeks were red, and she had a huge grin.
“Hey Uncle Wilder. You want to use my bed as a trampoline?”
“Bertie,” Lily scolded. “What have we told you about jumping on your bed?”
Bertie raised a brow, with far too much precision for a kid of her age. “If you just bought me a real one.”
“If you just did your chores, munchkin,” Nash counter-offered.
She rolled her eyes. “Fine, I’ll go and clean my room.” She turned to Gunner and sighed. “If I’m not finished by dinner, keep it warm, please, Uncle G.”
Gunner saluted her. “Ma’am, yes ma’am.”
Spinning on her heels she disappeared back up the stairs, making as much noise as possible as she slammed drawers and dragged things across the floor above us.
Lily took Billy from Nash’s lap and placed him in his playpen. “Want to talk to Nash and Gunner alone?” she asked.
