Total pages in book: 91
Estimated words: 87367 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 437(@200wpm)___ 349(@250wpm)___ 291(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 87367 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 437(@200wpm)___ 349(@250wpm)___ 291(@300wpm)
“Okay, Big Daddy,” I said, giving him his chance.
“I know I shoulda come to you with this sooner. Truth is, Big Momma was the love of my life, but Pam White was my first heartbreak. Tore my heart to pieces when she left me, and it only made it all the worse that she started seeing a goddamn Mitchell. The rumors were humiliatin’ enough as it was, but the feud added to it because suddenly it was like I was a disgrace to the family. Hell, you might have thought I’d lost the duel between our families, the way this town acted. Only thing that made it all bearable was that I was lucky enough to meet the woman I was really meant to be with. Still, people talk all the same, so when the walking reminder of all that embarrassment and shame carted back into town, I have to admit, it was a real blow to my pride.
“When I heard you and Dwain talkin’ that night, found out what you’d been up to, I just… I didn’t want some Mitchell to break your heart and leave you the talk of the town. Whether or not I can ever get it into any of my kids’ thick skulls, you’re my pride and joy, and I only ever want the best for ya. So I thought I was doin’ right when I went over to confront him. Then he threw the other curveball by admitting his family stole our family’s secrets, and…it was a lot to take in. Part of me believed he was trying to boast, and so I just blew up even more. But the fact that he told me that secret kept playin’ on my mind, and how he’d acted, especially knowin’ he left…because I sure as hell knew it wasn’t because I threw a tantrum. Even worse was when I saw you at breakfast after. If nothing else could have shaken my confidence in my own suspicions, that sure as hell really got me to thinking…what if I’d been wrong? What if Cohen had really been sincere, and you two really cared about each other, and I’d gone and ruined it all?”
“Yeah, that sounds about right,” I spit out. Still, it was a lot to think about. They really had stolen the recipe and Cohen had known?
“I’m gettin’ to it,” he said bitterly, like he was struggling enough with copping to his faults. “Even after breakfast, I tried to lie to myself and make myself believe he’d just done a number on my kid and that I’d done the right thing. But between the way he acted when I was making such a fuss, then telling me that secret and leaving after, I kept thinking…if he was hell-bent on hurting you or this family, he never would have done any of that. He would have stuck around just to piss me the hell off and really do a number on your heart. Made me second-guess all my ridiculous ideas about the whole thing. It was eating away at me, and then he had the balls to step on our property, and if that didn’t tell me everything I needed to know, I really would have been some kind of ass. I was wrong. And I, well, I’m…” He growled a little before finally managing, “I’m sorry, son.”
I froze. An apology from Big Daddy was about as rare as a word from Lee.
And it wasn’t just his words; it was the damned expression on his face. All that guardedness and anger and frustration I was used to had dissolved. He was hurt from hurting me. It reminded me of how he’d looked as Big Momma was slipping away from us.
Cohen stepped up beside me, and I turned to him.
“I imagine you two have your own talk you need to have,” Big Daddy said, glancing between us. “Then we can have our own father/son duel.”
“Okay. I’ll let you know where I stand on the duel after.”
He certainly knew I wasn’t going to ask for an actual duel, but I could tell by the look on his face he was concerned about how angry I was going to be with him.
“Come on, guys,” Lee told everyone, guiding the O’Ralley crew back inside, leaving Cohen and me in silence, and my thoughts went back to the night when he had been packing up.
He took a breath as the front door closed. “I know Big Daddy thinks it was his fault, but it wasn’t,” Cohen said. “Ultimately, I made the choice to go.”
“I know that, which is why I’m reluctant to be too hopeful about the reason for your visit. But on the plus side, I think that’s the first I’m sorry Big Daddy has ever uttered.”
I was trying to crack a joke to lighten the mood, maybe in case it was about to turn as serious as it had the night he left. But I couldn’t let go of a burning question. “Why didn’t you tell me he’d talked to you?”