My mouth opens, but he’s gone, taking my heart with him once again.
I call Jonathan.
Only this time when he doesn’t answer, I leave a voicemail asking him to call me.
Then I drop to the floor and cry.
Thirty-Two
“You’ll keep your mouth shut,” Cap snaps, gruffer than usual as I step out of the guest room.
“Are you kidding me?” Nash strains to keep his voice low, and I freeze in the middle of the hall. “Everything going on with her mom and the money—she’ll be blindsided.”
What?
Cap hacks. “No.”
For the second time today, I can’t stop myself from listening to words not made for my ears.
Nash says, “You need to tell her.”
My back tenses against the wall.
“And what’ll she do if she knows?”
Nash doesn’t answer.
“Exactly!” Cap barks through a wheeze. “Nothing anyone can do.”
Frank finds me in the hall, and I put a finger to my lips, begging him to stay quiet. Being the asshole he is, he barks.
I step into the living room with a painted-on smile. Cap is in a chair with his cane leaning on one side, his oxygen propped on the other, and Penny in his hand.
“Everything okay?” I look between them. “Sounded like you two were having a lover’s quarrel.”
“Your husband dragged my ass off the boat in this weather,” Cap gripes.
“Storm might last for a couple days,” Nash fills in, eyeing my dad. “Thought he might like to crash here.” To me: “In the guesthouse I didn’t know I had.”
“You should open an inn.” I give him a sweet smile. To my dad: “Your boat sink?”
“Hardly.” He hacks out a cough that leads to him gripping his side with a wince.
“You okay?”
“Bah.” He pokes me with his cane. “You sound like him.” He tilts his head to Nash, and they exchange a look of contempt.
“Okay ...” I look between them. “Is this about Mom?”
There’s a tense pause as they have an entire conversation of eye narrowing and aggressive head tilts.
“I knew about you,” Cap finally says.
My chin jerks back. “In the shed?”
“The shed?” He frowns, adjusting his hat. “No. Your mom told me she was pregnant before she left.”
In unison, Nash and I say, “What?”
