Total pages in book: 116
Estimated words: 114263 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 571(@200wpm)___ 457(@250wpm)___ 381(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 114263 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 571(@200wpm)___ 457(@250wpm)___ 381(@300wpm)
“I remember that, yeah. He loved music.”
“You do too. Y’all are alike—I can see that now.”
It’s a compliment. One that makes my chest hurt.
Cash is throwing me bones again. Glancing at him, I want to know why.
I want to ask the question that’s been banging around inside my head since we met.
“Why didn’t you come to the funeral?” I ask. “You say you and Dad and everyone else on the ranch were tight. But no one from Hartsville showed up.”
Cash’s chest rises on a sharp inhale. “We weren’t invited.”
My stomach lurches. “What? That’s not possible. Mom said she invited everyone Dad knew.”
“She didn’t invite us.”
“You sure? Maybe y’all missed it in the mail—”
“No one got an invitation of any kind, Mollie.” He adjusts his hand on the top of the wheel. “I know, because I reached out to your mama after she sent those men to bring your dad’s body to Dallas.”
“You called my mom?”
“Garrett never lived in Dallas. He only mentioned it because it was where you and your mama lived. I knew he wouldn’t want to be buried there, so I reached out to Aubrey to tell her that.”
The saliva thickens inside my mouth. “What did she say?”
“Nothing nice.” He chuckles darkly. “When it became clear she wasn’t gonna budge on the location of the burial, I asked her to send me the details so we could attend. She said the service was for family only and to please stop calling her.”
Yep, now I definitely feel like I’m going to vomit.
I want to fight Cash on what he’s telling me. Call him out for lying. But if I’m being honest, this sounds like something Mom would do. Maybe to protect me? To stick it to Dad one final time?
Whatever her reasons, it was a shithead move on Mom’s part. She hurt these people. I see that now, because Cash’s Adam’s apple bobs on a hard swallow.
“That must’ve truly sucked for y’all,” I manage. “I’m really sorry, Cash. I wondered why no one from the ranch came. Mom said she sent word to Dad’s friends, but…”
He lifts a shoulder. “We did our own thing here. Little ceremony, nothing fancy. But I think everyone needed a sense of closure, so I put something together.”
Always a leader.
Always thoughtful.
The lump in my throat is the size of the moon. “How are you not angrier about this?”
“I am angry.” He glances out his window. “Really fucking angry, Mollie. But at some point, I gotta let it go, or it’ll eat me alive.”
I feel that.
God, do I feel that.
“I’m angry too. At myself, mostly.”
That gets his attention. He glances at me with this look in his eyes—softness, pain, all of it raw and real—that makes my stomach dip. “Why’s that?”
I look down at my lap while I pick at a loose thread in my skirt. “I should’ve known Mom was up to something. I feel like I should’ve—I don’t know—followed up or double-checked the guest list or something.”
“You didn’t know, Mollie.”
“I think part of me did, though.” My turn to swallow. “Mom never had nice things to say about Dad. And I’m sure you noticed, but my father and I didn’t exactly get along. I think…maybe I was so angry at everyone, myself included, that I let shit slide. I’m sad Dad is gone. But I was—am—mostly angry.”
That’s one hell of a confession.
A pause.
Then, Cash says, “I had a therapist tell me once that for some people, sadness manifests as anger.”
I laugh, if only so I don’t burst into tears. “You’ve been to therapy?”
“Of course I’ve been to therapy. Why do you think I’m such a charming, well-adjusted beacon of contentment and emotional maturity?”
I laugh again, this time for real. “You’re full of surprises, I’ll say that much.”
“Can I ask what happened?” Cash does that thing where he adjusts his hand on the wheel. “Between you and Garrett?”
Letting out a long, low breath, I fall back against my seat. “Long story short? My parents had a nasty divorce. Not because anyone cheated or anything. But I think my mom was really hurt by the fact that my dad didn’t follow us to Dallas. He didn’t choose her, you know? And he didn’t choose me either. They were supposed to split custody, but Dad never brought me back to the ranch, and he never really came to see me in Dallas.”
“That’ll break anyone’s heart.”
I swallow, hard. “Broke mine, yeah.”
“I’m sorry, Mollie.”
“Thanks.” I manage a tight smile. “Dad loved life on the ranch, but Mom really struggled with it. She said she felt like she was living on a deserted island. I think she missed her family and friends back in Dallas.”
Cash nods. “That’s fair. Ranch life isn’t for everyone. Takes a special kind of person to weather the ups and downs.”
“She begged him to move with us to Dallas. But I guess he loved the ranch too much to leave it behind, so he stayed. Mom says she’s not angry anymore, but sometimes, I think she’ll always hate my Dad for not chasing her. For a while, I hated him for not chasing me.”