“Ronny, we can’t do this. Me and you. I thought I loved you, but I don’t.” I looked away from Tate and walked over to Ronny. I stopped only two feet away from him and looked up into his tortured eyes. “I’m not sure I ever did.”
He pressed his lips together and shook his head as his eyes took on a glossy shine.
“You never loved me?”
I shook my head.
“Not in the same way I love Tate. I wish I could. I wanted to. I tried. But we can’t force it, and I don’t want to be stuck in this weird limbo anymore. I’m staying married to Tate, and I hope that you can move on and find someone to be happy with as well.”
He rolled his eyes as tears welled up, fully prepared to fall.
“Thanks for the formal break up speech. I’m glad I could be of service.”
He took a step away from me and then turned around, heading to the door.
“I’m calling a driver downstairs. I’m heading back to my place for a while, don’t follow me Dal,” his voice cracked as he opened the door and slammed it closed as he left. I blinked away my own tears and turned to face the other men in the room.
Dallas was staring at me with his mouth half open, holding Cara. He was bouncing her ever so slightly up and down. It melted my heart completely, and the tears from Ronny turned into tears of love for my brother. I hurried back over to them and he smiled.
“Thanks for letting me hold her. I won’t let her go, I promise,” he chuckled, glancing at Tate, whose face was still hard from Ronny’s words. My brother looked over at me. “Is it weird that I already love her? She’s so cute.”
I laughed and shook my head.
“No, because I felt the same way when I saw her. You wouldn’t think you could care for something so quickly, but then bam! It hits you and its the weirdest thing.”
He nodded in agreement and held her until Tate calmed down and took her from him. Together the four of us went to the living room and relaxed a bit for the next few hours. It was odd, hanging out with my brother, but it felt right. This was what kind of relationship we should have had all along, not the constant bickering and fighting.
Dallas stayed for dinner, which we ordered in. We all sat down for a movie, and finally he glanced at the clock and declared he was leaving.
“I’d love to stay and hold Cara all night, but I promised Ronny a party and whether he’s in the mood or not, I’m gonna give him one. Don’t worry. Give it a little time and he’ll be pounding some other pus-” he stopped short, glancing at the baby sleeping in her car seat. “He’ll move on and you can all keep making killer music together,” he finished. I almost laughed out loud at his sudden redirection. It wasn’t as if the newborn could understand a word he said.
“You like our music?” I asked as I followed him to the door.
“Actually, yeah. It’s not bad. I hate saying it, but you did good Jim. All of it. Everything. I’m really happy for you guys.” He glanced from me to Tate, sitting beside the baby. Tate and him nodded to each other, and I hugged my brother goodbye one last time.
Thankfully, Tate had the foresight to bring some things here before the baby came, just in case. We slipped into our pajamas and I climbed into my bed with Cara as Tate sat on the floor of my bedroom and built her bassinet. She was still mostly sleeping and eating, but I did enjoy cuddling with her as she did so.
Finally, Tate finished and rolled the gold and pink baby bed over to my side so we could put her in for the night. She didn’t even flinch as we moved her from my arms to her new sleeping area.
Tate climbed into bed with me and grimaced. I raised an eyebrow at him and sat back up.
“This is too weird. Do you have any other blankets, bedsheets, and all that? This all smells like his cologne. I can’t...”
I blushed, realizing his issue. How mortifying. I literally had another man in this very bed days ago. I should have thought before I brought Tate in here. I stood and removed all the bedding. Tate offered to bring his own in from his room for tonight and I thanked him. We’d get everything moved around and cleaned tomorrow. Tonight, we needed rest.
Just as we were settling back in, cuddled against each other in between his dark sheets that smelled like his cologne, ready to start a movie, my phone rang. I glanced at it and saw it was Ronny. I ignored it. He was probably drunk. The call came again a moment later and I ignored it again. I tried to focus on the movie, but Ronny’s incessant calling was starting to worry me.
Halfway through the movie the phone rang again and I snatched it up, prepared to turn my phone off, when I saw it wasn’t Ronny this time. The number on the screen was coming from the hospital we were just at for Cara’s birth. I pushed answer quickly to take the call.
“Hello? Is this Tierney Warren?” A man on the other side asked quickly, his voice was hard and urgent. I sat up straight and swallowed. It hit me then that Tierney probably set it up so that any time Ronny called her it would call me, just like she had done to me. Why would a hospital need to talk to Tierney?
“Who is this?” I demanded, rather than answer him.
“My name is Glen and I’m calling from Huntington Hospital on behalf of Ronald McCoy. He was just brought in and this was who he had listed in his phone for emergencies. Can you get here soon?”
“Of course, what happened? Is he okay?” I asked as I tossed the blankets off me and leapt off the bed.
“He was in a car accident and he’s in critical condition. He just arrived so we don’t know how bad the damage is. We’ll know more by the time you get here.”
“Okay, I’m on my way,” I said as I started taking off my pajamas and heading to my closet to grab something else.
“Does he have any family? A brother maybe? At the scene he was asking for someone named Jimmy.”
I froze, and tears sprung instantly from my eyes. It took me a moment to compose myself before I answered him one last time before hanging up.
“I’m Jimmy. I’ll be there as fast as I can.”
