“It seems like you’ve got some heavy shit on your mind, Jeff,” Garrett said with a straight-as-hell face.
“You never were one to beat around the bush, were you?” I said as I shook Garrett’s hand.
Josh walked up and slapped me on the back before he shook Garrett’s hand.
“Back to your question, Jeff. Yes, we heard from him a little bit ago. They’re only about an hour out,” Garrett said.
“Yeah, we would have been here sooner, but…um, I had some shit to take care of,” I explained.
Josh let out a laugh and shook his head at me. Bastard. He should be the one with the damn crazy-ass pregnant girl, not me.
“Yeah, well…sometimes we have to step in the shit to move past it, Jeff. Did Gunner give you the key to the cabin?”
What the fuck does that mean? “Um…yeah, he gave it to me. I guess we’ll head over there now. Josh’s truck has Gunner’s stuff since he put most of his stuff in storage. I think Ari and Heather were planning on heading into Mason to grab something to eat. ”
“No, we decided to stay here. Emma made a King Ranch casserole that sounds yummy. Plus, I want to be here when Ellie gets back,” Ari said, walking by arm and arm with Heather.
I watched as Ari, Heather, and Emma made their way into the house with Gus jumping on Ari the whole way. He would not leave her alone. She kept yelling down at him. She looked so damn cute, trying to be all stern with him.
***
Josh and I emptied the trailer on his truck, and then we brought my truck and trailer over to my place. By the time we were done, I was starving. Somehow, I had gotten a text message from Ari, saying Gunner and Ellie were back.
Josh and I headed back to the ranch house. The moment I saw Gunner’s truck, it felt a ton of bricks had lifted off of my shoulders. We got out of the truck as Gunner came walking out of the house. Man, that bastard looks fuckin’ happy. He walked up to Josh first and gave him a hand-shake and slap on the back.
Then he walked up to me. He shook my hand but pulled me in toward him.
“What the fuck did you do to Ari?”
I pulled back and looked at him, confused.
“What the hell kind of greeting is that? I didn’t do anything to her. Why?”
“Grams and the girls d
idn’t hear us pull up. When we walked in the door, Grams was holding Ari while she was crying her goddamn eyes out. Ari brought us up to speed about everything that had happened. She can’t stop crying, Jeff. Man, why the fuck are you not using your head with Rebecca?”
Holy shit. I couldn’t believe it. I was getting the same damn lecture from the one person I thought I would be able to talk to. I threw my hands in my hair and started to walk down toward the barn. I needed to get away.
“Jeff, hold up, dude. Talk to me,” Gunner said as he came up behind me.
“What do you want me to say, Gun? I’m losing my goddamn mind. I thought, out of all people, you wouldn’t be the one jumping down my throat because Ari is hurting. What about me? How the fuck do you think I feel? I don’t want to have a baby with Rebecca. I want to have a baby with Ari and only Ari. I’m being pulled in two different directions. If this baby is mine, I’m not walking out on it like my good-for-nothing father did. I want to be here for him, even if Rebecca is the mother. I don’t know how to make Ari understand that. I don’t know how to take away her pain, Gunner. There’s nothing I wouldn’t do to keep her from hurting. I just seem to be making it worse. Rebecca isn’t helping with her needy-ass self either. ”
Gunner sat down on a hay bale and looked up at me. “Jeff, have you told Ari all of that?”
I sat down on the bale next to him and put my head in my hands. “No, not in those exact words. ”
“Well fuck, dude. Don’t you think it would help her to understand your need to jump when Rebecca says how high? You owe her the truth, Jeff. If you don’t tell her, she’s just going to just keep thinking the worst. Right now, to her, you are putting Rebecca above her. It needs to be Ari first. Find out if this baby is even yours. If he is, then be the best damn Dad you can be. Just remember who your world is right now, dude. ”
I lifted my head and looked at Gunner. I knew he was right.
“What the hell, dude? Marriage made you smarter. ”
Gunner started to laugh. “Something like that. ”
“I’m sorry your honeymoon got cut short. How’s your dad?”
Gunner’s smile faded some.