Page 74 of Cabin Fever Baby
“C’mon downstairs. I have something I want to show you.”
Finn picked up my plate before I could start the process of clearing the table. He flashed me a middle finger under the plate that made me snort out a laugh. “I’ll do the dishes, loser.”
I followed my dad down the stairs, the screeching laughter fading with each step. It was also cooler downstairs, which made my shoulders ease.
“What do you need to show me, Dad?”
“Nothing. Your mom means well, but she has that pushy look in her eye. You wouldn’t get any peace until you spilled.”
“Like you will give me space?” I dropped into one of the leather recliners lined up in front of the massive television.
He reached into the mini fridge. “At least I’ll do my prodding with beer. Unless you want me to break out the Doublewood.”
I shook my head. “Beer is fine.” I didn’t need whiskey to put me on my ass. “I did buy you another bottle for Christmas, though.”
“Well-timed.” He grinned and settled in his chair. My dad wasn’t a recliner guy. He preferred a leather armchair that had at least ten thousand butt miles on it at this point.
“Did I tell you how your mom nabbed me?”
I sipped from the bottle of local lager and relaxed. “A few times.”
“Did I tell you we broke up before we got engaged?”
I sat forward. “No.”
“Yep. I got offered a job in Manhattan and your mom wasn’t sure about moving out of the ‘Cuse. Her family was here, and allher friends. Even her job. She wasn’t sure she wanted to up and leave all that for me. So, we broke up.”
My mouth dropped open. “I didn’t know that.”
He leaned back, kicked his long legs out to cross them at his ankles. “It was a prestigious job too. How the hell was I supposed to turn it down? I was top of my class and had headhunters hitting me up all hours. Heady feeling to know that I was so wanted.”
I started peeling the label on the bottle. “I know how that is. I think I’m getting a promotion at Eden.”
My dad was quiet for a full minute. “That should be a good thing.”
“It should.” I picked at the glue of the label. Advancing at Eden would be the best thing for me to do. The smartest thing.
“I almost took the job.”
I glanced up. “Almost?”
“Even packed up my shitty apartment. The banker’s boxes were in that crappy hatchback I used to drive.”
I gave a soft laugh. “You drove that till the wheels literally fell off.”
My dad snickered. “I was getting my money out of that toad green Civic.” His silence lasted a full minute before he continued the story. “My car was full of crap, my one good suit hung in the backseat. But I just couldn’t do it. Instead of driving off to Manhattan, I headed to your grandparents’ house. I found her on the porch. It was October and just starting to get cold.” He took a sip from his beer and settled it on the arm of his chair. “She shot off that swing and ran for me before I even opened the door.”
I grinned. There had been no end to the love between my parents.
Knowing that it almost wasn’t a forever love made my chest tighten.
“She said she’d changed her mind. Said she’d go with me. Us against the world in all that twenty-one-year-old bravado. But I couldn’t do it. I course corrected for her. Best thing I ever did. We accidentally got pregnant with Cal and ended up getting married faster than we had originally planned, but I don’t regret any of it.”
We all knew Cal’s birthday was a bit too close to our parents’ anniversary, but there was never any doubt that they loved each other.
But therehadbeen a doubt.
They just hadn’t told us.