In Too Deep (A Texas Beach Town Romance 1)

“You mean why I’m here? I already said that I’m here to congratulate—”

“Why are you really here?” I cut him off. “You didn’t come for Martin’s fiftieth birthday. You didn’t come for the fifteen-year anniversary of Hopewell Fair. Why now? And why here? I didn’t even know you were in town.”

He ignores my question entirely and, as usual, pins it all on Mom. “You see her? The way she’s laughing? This is a serious concern, Kent. Last time I was here, I knew there was something going on with her. Now she’s acting like she needs to be medicated. Why haven’t you and your brothers been looking after her? If Brett were still here—”

Before I can even gather the breath to reply, someone else is at my side. “Last time you were here??” my sudden sidekick booms. “Do you even know when that was??”

It’s Adrian.

“Let me ask something else,” my brother goes on. “Do you know that Skipper asks about you every year? If he’ll see you for Christmas? Or at his birthday parties? He has been asking since he was seven. He knows better now.”

My dad’s voice hardens. “Adrian, I—”

“How old is he? Go ahead. Tell us. How old is Skipper, your youngest son?”

“This is ridiculous.”

“Is it? How old is Kent?” he goes on, throwing a thumb over his shoulder at me (and almost taking my eye out). “How old am I? I’d bet you every last dollar in my bank account you can’t even say one of our birthdays. Hell, I bet you can’t even tell me what month mine is.”

“August,” he answers.

Adrian experiences half a second of looking caught off-guard, since he likely wasn’t counting on Dad actually knowing. Also, if he knows Adrian’s birth month, then he obviously knows mine, too, being twins and all.

I decide to pick up the weapon my big dumb brother was trying to wield. “Dad,” I start, “I think you need to read the room a little. No one is thrilled you’re here. This is where we live—Mom, Skipper, me, Adrian. It’s no longer your place to judge us. When you turned your back on us, you turned your back on the whole island. Martin is just too damned nice to turn you away from one of his big parties. You’ve congratulated him by now, I’m sure. You made your little public appearance. You’ve schmoozed. Now please do the right thing and kindly fuck off.”

For a moment, there is pulsing indignation on his face. My words are a slap across his cheek. His eyes are fury and brimstone.

Then: “Alright.” It’s in the tiniest, emptiest voice that he utters that one little word. By now, my mom has gone silent, and it’s only with two happy-drunk, amused eyes that she stares at him, half-smiling, half-smirking, a glass of wine hugged to her chest. My dad’s eyes flick around the silent room one last time, as if searching for friends, before he finally turns around to leave.

I guess he discovered he has none left here.

Life returns to the room at once, starting with several people rushing up to my mom. “Are you okay, sweetie?” “I despise that man.” “Wow, what nerve!” “You are such a strong and brave woman.” “I’d have knocked that man in the teeth if I were you.” She smiles dreamily in the words of support she gets, but I see her watching my dad as he leaves like a dog with his tail tucked.

I don’t think their story will ever end.

“You alright?”

I barely acknowledge Adrian’s question. “Yeah.”

“You sure?”

The party has more or less returned to normal, with everyone chatting, drunken laughter, someone playing a piano in the other room and singing with their friends, and I still can’t find it in me to face Adrian when I talk to him. “Mom is alright, so I’m alright.”

“Kent.”

“I gotta go fix a fryer.” I head off, and mercifully, my brother doesn’t follow.

I don’t make it to the back deck. Sorry, Aaron, but now my emotions are everywhere, and I’d be lucky to gather enough focus to flip the machine’s on-off switch properly. I find a secluded spot on the other side of the deck that attaches to the pier. Leaning against the wooden railing, I stare off at the rippling water and the stars that refract over its face. It’s been a long time since I’ve hung out near the north pier. I used to do it more often when Finn and I were better friends, but between him getting handed more business responsibilities from his dad and his very clingy, overbearing boyfriend Theo, our friendship isn’t what it used to be. I wonder why I’m thinking about this now.

Maybe I could use more friends. Why couldn’t I have just kept Jonah as a friend at the very least if a relationship wasn’t possible considering the distance?