His finger taps the end of the armrest while the finger on his other hand taps the beer bottle. “I have prostate cancer.” I open my mouth to say something, but his hand goes up to stop me. “Before you say anything, they caught it early, and my doc thinks I’ll be fine. I have to have surgery in a couple of weeks, some radiation, and then I should be good to go.”
“Jesus. I’m sorry, Dad. Let me know what you need me to do. I’m here to help.”
He scowls, shaking his head. “I don’t want you kids making a big deal of it, all right? That’s why I haven’t told your sister. She’ll be down here in a heartbeat, hovering over me, acting like I’m dying and driving me crazy. Or worse, make me move into that damn mansion. Her heart is in the right place, but you know what she’s like.”
He’s not wrong. Ariana can be overbearing, but I think that’s what you get when your mother leaves. You cherish your family. So, I don’t blame her.
“I can’t keep this from her.”
His jaw flexes and he keeps his gaze on the forest beyond. “Fine, but make sure you tell her the part about me being fine.”
“Right, I’m sure that will ease her mind.” I take a pull from my beer, knowing she’ll be on the first plane out.
“I’m serious, Bast. Make sure she knows that she doesn’t have to go all mother hen on me.”
I nod, though we both know it doesn’t matter how I spin it. Ari’s going to freak out.
“I swear ever since she had those kids, she worries about everything. What happened to the little girl who used to pull one over on people with me?”
My dad wasn’t happy when Ariana told us she was leaving the family con business more than a decade ago. I know he loves my sister, but I think he still sees it as her turning her back on us. On him.
“Ariana’s happy with her life, and that’s what matters. Let her fuss over you a little bit. Otherwise, you two will be at each other’s throats.”
He grunts and takes another sip of his beer. “Now what’s going on with you?”
“What makes you think something is going on with me?”
He turns and looks at me with that dad expression he perfected at some point. “Call it fatherly intuition.”
I push my hand through my hair. “I’ve been dealing with something for a few months. Thought I had the situation under control, but… things have shifted.”
“Is it business?”
“Nah. It’s personal.”
“Well, don’t act like a mopey teenager I have to pull the information out of. Tell me what’s going on.”
I stand, leaving my beer on the table beside the chair, and go up to the porch railing. With my hands on the railing, I stare at the lush trees at the end of the yard. “I hired someone to track down information on my mom.”
He says nothing.
“Figured he’d come back and tell me she’d ODed, but the joke is on me. She’s alive and well, living in Wisconsin.”
Only silence continues behind me.
It’s only dawning on me now that maybe my dad won’t take well to the news that I was looking for my birth mother. He was the one who brought me up. Sure, at first it might have been for me to help him with cons, but our relationship shifted to father and son.
When a minute passes and he still doesn’t say anything, I turn around, leaning against the railing. All the color has drained from his face, and his eyes are wide.
“I didn’t do it because I want a relationship with her or anything. I was just… curious. I wanted to know what had happened to her.”
He clears his throat. “And what did happen to her?”
I cross my arms. “She lives in Wisconsin with her husband that she’s been married to for a long time. He had a daughter before they married, and she’s raised her as her own.”
“Have you talked to her? Your mother, I mean?” His voice sounds wary.
I shake my head. “I told you, I didn’t track her down so I could strike up a relationship with her. In fact, after I read the whole report, all I was interested in was revenge.”
