Southern Storm (Southern 3)

When I walk back out, she’s sitting at the island eating, and a plate is right next to her with food piled on it for me. “You didn’t have to make breakfast,” I say, sitting down next to her, and she looks over.

“I figured you would need your strength.” She tries to joke, but it comes out with a sob, and I take her in my arms.

“Why are you crying?” I ask her as she lays her head on my shoulder.

“I don’t want to lose you,” she says so softly that if she wasn’t whispering in my ear, I wouldn’t have heard her.

“You won’t lose me,” I say. I don’t add that she’ll never lose me. You won’t ever lose me because I love you right down to the depth of my soul. She pulls away from me and gets off her stool.

“You should eat.” She grabs her still full plate and walks to the sink, throwing it out. “I’m going to get in the shower.” I want to go after her, but how do I do that without telling her how I feel? I get up and grab my phone from the coffee table. I send Jacob a text.

Me: Family meeting at the mayor’s office.

He answers right away.

Jacob: Do you need backup?

Me: Not sure, but you’ll be the first one I call.

Jacob: I’ll be here.

When she comes out of the bathroom wearing her jean shorts and a white tank top, I’m just putting my dish in the dishwasher. “Can I borrow your car?” I ask. “I can come back after so you can go to work.”

“That’s okay. I can get a ride to the bar,” she says. My stomach burns with nerves. “Will you call me?”

“As soon as I can,” I say, and she hands me the keys to her truck. “Don’t worry, nothing is going to touch you.” Reassuring her, I lean in and kiss her cheek, but it’s very close to her lips, which is where I really want to kiss her. When I walk out of the house, the sun is high in the sky, and the heat is starting to fill the air. I make my way over to my new office in Savannah’s truck, and when I pull up, I see that my father and brother are already there. I get out of the truck and walk up the steps to the front door. When I walk into the house, the cool air hits me right away, and I look over at my new secretary. Well, the secretary I inherited from my father.

“Morning, Mayor,” Bonnie says and smiles at me. She must be in her early thirties, and she looks like a debutante for sure. Southern to a T with her hair curled perfectly and her nails an acceptable length with a nude color on them. “Your father and brother are already in there. Would you like coffee?”

“No, thank you,” I say as I walk to the office door and open it. Stepping into the room, I see that my brother is wearing khaki pants with a white polo and a khaki jacket. He even looks like a douche sitting there on the couch. I see a tumbler in his hand already, and I have no doubt it’s not his first drink this morning.

He turns his head to look at me. “Nice of you to show up,” he sneers and takes a sip of his drink. Looking toward my desk, I find my father sitting behind it. At one time, I wanted to be like my father because I thought he was the perfect father.

The three of us look exactly the same except my father’s black hair has now turned white. He looks at me with narrowed eyes, and I see in front of him the paper that I had clutched in my hand last night. Then I look over at the wall but find the mess of the bottle from last night has been cleaned up.

“You’re sitting in my chair,” I say, and he just looks at me.

“That is the least of my worries today,” my father says, pressing the button on the phone.

When Bonnie answers, he says, “We are having a meeting, and there are to be no interruptions,” and releases the button.

“No interruptions.” I laugh bitterly now. “What’s the matter? You don’t want to tell the whole town that your sorry excuse of a son isn’t man enough to take responsibility for his actions?”

“What did you just say?” Liam says as he gets up and walks to me. I can smell the whiskey on him as if he bathed in it.

I go toe-to-toe with him. “How could you just walk away from your own flesh and blood?” I ask. “How could you?” Then I turn and look at my father. “And how could you live in a town and see him all the time and not want to get to know your own grandson?” I shake my head. “How the fuck can you do it?”