“I called Damon.” Even in the silence between us, my voice isn’t loud. “I was going to inform him that he’s not getting a dime from me and to go ahead and tell the world. He thought I was hounding him for the money he’s going to pay back.” A small giggle slips out. “Should I feel bad?”
The blankets rustle as he moves closer. “You didn’t know when you called him?”
“No, but I missed you, and I was sick of how I was living. I called him after I invited Clem and my parents to the bakery. Itold them.Everything. Including the blackmail. Though I didn’t tell them about your dad, and I didn’t share your history.”
He tenses only briefly. “How’d they take it?”
“Worried. Mom blamed herself and I asked her not to. I blamed myself enough for everyone. I know you’re going to be shocked, but they didn’t crumble from the stress.”
His grin is big enough to see in the dark.
“Clem tried to play it cool,” I continue, “and she was concerned and righteously angry, but I think she was taking notes and getting plot bunnies, or whatever she calls them, for her stories.”
He laughs and tangles his fingers through mine. Ever since I arrived, he hasn’t quit touching me. “What if word spreads?”
“I don’t care. I’ll open another business, or get a job at the café, and actually get weekends off once in a while. But I think it’s time I hire another baker.”
“No shit?”
“A full-time one at that. Like I said, it’s because of you I have the funds and the time. That cookie dough fundraiser idea has legs. And if Damon and Dwayne really pay me back? That’ll go a long way.”
“Good.” He lifts my hand to kiss my fingers.
Everything he did made my life better. I’m closer to my parents and Clem, I won’t be working every waking minute, and I might get an influx of funds. But what did it cost him? “Is everything done with your dad? Are you really okay after seeing him?”
His soft exhale tickles the skin of my hand. “Yeah, I’m okay. It was like taking a pressure bandage off. I don’t have this... restlessness... when I think of him, like he’s waiting in the shadows to ditch me for a lunch date again. Or that he only wanted to tell me what a loser I am.”
“Did he do that when you were younger?” I’ll never forgive myself for driving Cruz to speaking to his dad again if that’s the case. I don’t know how I’ll make it up to him.
“No, but he was always pushing me and Lane to do more and be more. If I lost a fight, he’d coach me on how to win it. When I said I’d be late for work, he said it was a shit job anyway. That kind of stuff. If we were gonna be bad, we’d better be good at it.”
“If he’s not proud of you now, then he’s not worth another second of your time.” I’ve got enough for everyone.
“I owe him some of my time. It’s part of the deal.”
Fear strikes through me, and I prop myself up. “What? No, not for me.”
He gives me a kiss. “Relax, sugar. I just have to answer the phone when he calls—if I’m able. He gave me freedom for that.”
Anxiety curls through my stomach. “Cruz, if he’s trying to control you?—”
“No, Elodie. He won’t. He can’t. He knows it, but he’s used to bargaining. It’s his life, and it’ll be ours dealing with him. He’s always going to test our limits. It’s fun for him, especially when his boys prove stronger.”
That’s a warped father-son relationship, but it could be worse. I wiggle closer to Cruz. “I can’t believe you did that for me.”
“I have to name my first kid after him,” he says abruptly.
I shoot up to a sitting position. “What?”
He’s not laughing. Is he even smiling? Oh god. He’s not kidding.
“It’s okay.” He tugs me back down and gives me a quick kiss. “I said it’d be a middle name.”
“You really are serious.”
“Mom never gave us Dad’s name, and that’s always bugged him. This is the only way he feels like he can live on.”
I root around my brain for a quick fact. “Sy Lawson? That’s what Damon called him.”
