by Piper Rayne
“You don’t see the big deal?” I whine. “I have a mom who skipped around husbands and a dead dad who really wasn’t my dad. I have no roots. You belong here with Phil. He’s your blood.”
She sips her drink and eyes me from the side. “I’m not sure blood means anything.”
“That’s because you have it,” I fight back, and she doesn’t say anything.
We walk a few paces, finishing our burritos.
“So you’re just going to move back into the ranch?”
I sigh. “I don’t know. I don’t want to live with my mom after this. Maybe I’ll get a job somewhere.”
“You could always head back to Lake Starlight and run the company your father left you.”
“Have you even been listening?”
She sips her latte and throws it out after finishing only half. “I’m listening. I love you, Cleo, you’re my sister, but guess what?”
“What?” I groan, waiting for her next pearl of wisdom.
“We’re not blood.”
I stop walking and she continues. She slowly turns around when she realizes her point was so easily made.
“That’s different. We knew from the get-go.” I catch up to her, but I have to say my “argument” hangs in front of me like an annoying neon sign.
“If you say so.” She slides her arm through mine.
We walk the entire path around the lake. Then she drives me to the ranch so I can confront my mother.
Thirty-Four
Denver
Someone pulled a prank on me. That’s the only explanation for why my mouth feels as if it’s filled with cotton balls. Seconds later, I hear faint voices.
“You’re not going to pour water on him. It’ll ruin my couch.”
Juno.
“He’s going to get his ass up and stop acting like a child.”
Austin.
“Let’s write ‘You’re a jackass’ in permanent ink on him.”
Phoenix.
“Come on, guys. We’ve all been here.”
Holly.
“I’ve never been where he is. I fought for my fiancée.”
Rome.
“We had our problems. This is a bump in the road for them.”
Harley.
“Wyatt ran.”
Brooklyn.
“I didn’t run.”
Wyatt.
“You went to New York.”
Brooklyn.
“I was back in a day.”
Wyatt.
“Mommy and Daddy, stop fighting.”
Kingston.
“He’s not going to talk to any of you.”
Liam.
“We have to try. Should we call Dori?”
Savannah.
“What’s wrong with Uncle Denver?”
Calista.
My eyes pop open. My niece’s head is tilted over mine, staring at me. I pick her up and sit up, feeling as if my brain is jiggling around. She squeals, and a happiness I haven’t felt since before the shitstorm of last night warms me. Until I look at all my siblings and their significant others staring at me.
“Time to talk,” Austin says.
I glance at the clock on the wall. Shit. It’s only seven in the morning. I release Calista and lie back down. “Not now.”
Austin grabs the pillow from under my head and it hits the arm of the couch.
“Damn it,” I whine.
“Maybe that will make you think clearly. We all have jobs to get to. We can’t babysit you all day.”
I sit up again.
“Calista, go into Aunt Juno’s room and watch television.” Harley nudges her that way.
Juno runs to the door before Calista can get there. “Go to Uncle Kingston’s room. Mine’s messy.”
Everyone stares blankly at her. Calista doesn’t give a shit if a room is messy. But Calista, being easygoing about everything, skips to Kingston’s room. A second later, we hear “Baby Shark” playing.
“Damn it, I left my phone in there.” Kingston pats his pajama pants.
“Denver,”—Rome slides the beer bottles over and sits on the coffee table—“what happened?”
It’s not my news to share. I don’t know if Phoenix opened her mouth, but I’m not telling anyone about Cleo’s situation with her dad without talking to Cleo myself.
“It doesn’t really matter. We broke up and my kid sister over there drove her to the airport.” I roll my eyes at Phoenix.
“Yes, because she was hurting, and all you were doing was giving her ultimatums. She was clearly freaking out, and I thought she needed space. I planned to try to convince her not to go on the way to the airport, which I did try, but damn that girl can be stubborn.”
All the women in the room give me a death glare. I raise my hand because I don’t need some “come to Jesus” moment from them.
“You’re acting like one of our students,” Holly says. “Sometimes people need space to figure things out. It doesn’t mean they don’t care about you.”
I stand from the couch. “I have to go to work. My partner just left me high and dry. Hey, any of you want to do a reality show with me?” I circle my pointer finger around. “No? Figures.”
“Denver, can we please be real for a moment?” Austin says.
I open the front door. “No.” Then I slam it so they know the conversation is over.
I’m almost to my truck when the apartment window opens.
“Might want to check Buzz Wheel!” The window slams shut again.
Sitting in my car, I take the bait Phoenix threw out, pulling up Buzz Wheel on my phone. The picture of the Welcome to Dallas sign is a sure tip-off that it’s about Cleo.
* * *
I have sad news for our Lake Starlight residents. We thought after losing Chip Dawson that we wouldn’t have to change our population size because his daughter, Cleo, would take his spot, but rumors have it that she hopped on a plane back to Texas late last night. Apparently, she and Denver Bailey are on the outs and she’s given him her half of Lifetime Adventures. I’m hoping this rumor isn’t true, but the Baileys were seen congregating at Kingston and Juno’s place early this morning. Add on the fact that Denver’s truck was there all night, and someone saw Phoenix pull into her driveway at one this morning, and it would seem the timelines meet up. I’m sad that we might have lost her and lost the new-and-improved Denver Bailey right along with her. I have confidence that these two can find a way to figure things out if they decide to do it together. If you’re in Texas, Cleo, come back home to Lake Starlight.
* * *
I throw my phone onto the passenger seat. All I can see is Cleo sitting there, her legs crossed, and her flirty smile aimed my way.
Damn, my heart hurts. I rub my chest. How many times will it suffer like this before it just shuts down completely? I’m sick of going through this shit.
A half hour later, I walk into Lifetime Adventures.
Nancy’s smiling in front of the coffee maker. “I made you a cold brew.”
“Thanks.” I look at her, then at the door with Manager in a nice script. “I’ll be working in the hangar today.”
I walk out and shut the door. Today is going to be a reorganization day. I’ll bury myself in the storage locker.
“Denver Bailey!”
Fuck. G’ma D. Can I not catch even a small break today? She thinks the siblings don’t talk about her incessant need lately to fix us all up.
I say, “Go away. I don’t need any stories.”
“Oh, I’m not going to tell you any stories.” She follows me into the supply closet. “I’m going to say this once, and you’re going to get down from that ladder and listen to me.”
I climb down the ladder because this woman will probably grab me down by my belt loop if I don’t. “What?”
“Do you have any idea how hard it was to put all the pieces in place to get you and Cleo together while making it look like I had nothing to do with it?”
“Sorry for wasting your time.” I
turn, but she grabs my arm and flings me around. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen her this mad.
“Oh, you’re not going to have to apologize to me—because you’re going to get on that plane and fly to Dallas and grovel.”
I laugh. “Uh. No.”
“Stop destroying your future with your own hands. So you’ve been hurt. We’ve all been hurt. I lost your grandfather. I lost my son and my daughter-in-law Your eight siblings all lost their parents too.” She puts her hand on my heart. “I know it hurts and you don’t want to go through it again, but it’s life, honey. Life and death go hand-in-hand. Cleo lost her father only to lose him all over again by finding out he’s not her biological father. Put yourself in her shoes.”
“She left me.” I sit on a box. “Her first reaction was to run.” I look up at her. “Run from me.”
G’ma D sits on a rung of the ladder. “I know, and she’ll have to apologize for that and work it out, but are you really going to sit here and not go after her? Where is the Denver Bailey who fights until he’s got nothing left? You’re accepting defeat.”
“Who knows where we were going anyway?”
She hits me on the back of the head. “That shit might work with someone else but not me. You love the girl.”
I don’t argue—because she’s right. Somewhere in this crazy situation, I fell so hard for her and what hurts so badly is that maybe she doesn’t love me like I love her. Otherwise her first reaction wouldn’t have been to leave me. “I don’t think she loves me.”
“I think she does, but there’s only one way to find out.” When I look at her, she seems exasperated. “Go get her.”
“She probably won’t take me back.”
G’ma D picks up my phone from the shelf and hands it to me. “There’s an easy way to find out.”
Phoenix comes out of nowhere. “No. He needs to go to her.” She turns to me. “You need to go to her.”
G’ma D nods.
“Shit.” I look down at myself. “I smell like a brewery. I can’t go now.”
G’ma D pushes me out of the storage room. “It’ll mean more that you couldn’t wait one second.”
I nod. “I gotta get a flight.”
Phoenix bites her lip and grins.
“What?” I ask.
“I saw on Instagram that Griffin Thorne flew in on his private jet yesterday.”
I don’t know why he’s here, but it doesn’t matter. I’m not too proud to beg. I can’t let Cleo slip away from me without at least trying to drag her back to Lake Starlight. I dial him up, and he answers right away. After I explain the situation, he says to meet him at the regional airport, and he’ll arrange everything.
“I’m going too,” Phoenix says.
“You’re not going.”
“I got you the information! Come on, just an introduction.” She follows me out of the hangar, and I hop in my truck and lock the doors before she can climb into the passenger seat. “Denver!”
I’ll fix that later, but right now I’m only on a mission to apologize to Cleo and win her back.
Forty-five minutes later, I’m at the airport. Maverick is running circles around Griffin in the small lobby. I throw the truck into park and get out.
Griffin meets me at the door. “Plane’s ready and it’ll park at the airport overnight, but tomorrow morning, it has to return here because Maggie will have a coronary if I don’t get him back to LA on time.”
I shake his hand. “I owe you so much.”
“I owe you my life. This is nothing.” He tucks his hair behind his ear.
“Hey, Maverick.” I hold out my fist to bump him.
He does it then jumps from chair to chair.
“There’s an expiration date on that owing-me-your-life thing,” I call and run through the set of doors.
I board the plane. When he said ready, he meant ready. The stairs come up, the pilot starts the engine, and I barely have my seatbelt on before we’re speeding down the runway.
Thirty-Five
Cleo
Bridget drives me to Phil’s house. For some reason, I’ve referred to it as solely his since the day I moved in. I came to this house every day after school for three years, but it was never home. It should’ve been, because my mother lives here, but Phil made me feel more welcome here than my mother ever did. Talk about a mother who treats you like a stepchild and a stepdad who treats you like a real daughter.
“Are you sure about this?” Bridget asks.
We both look at the expansion ranch where the landscapers are doing their weekly maintenance.
“As long as you’re with me.”
Her hand fits in mine. “I’m always with you.”
“Because after this, you’re driving me to the airport.” She crinkles those perfectly styled eyebrows, and I add, “I’m going home.”
“You’re telling me something I said got through to you?”
I laugh and hug her. “Yes. I love you. Thank you.”
“I’m so giddy that my words of wisdom helped you through your brain fart.”
We pull back from the embrace. “Well, let’s not go too far.”
Our feet fall on the cobblestone driveway.
“I’m not letting this go for a long time,” she says, but I say nothing because my heart is beating like a drum in a rock band. “You got this.” Bridget opens the front door. “Dad! Violet!”
“They’re probably out back,” I say.
She nods and we head through the foyer, through the cook’s kitchen to the dining room, and out to the covered porch. As I assumed, Phil and my mom are on the porch, drinking Bloody Marys and eating their lunch. They don’t turn when we open the doors, Phil engrossed in his magazine and my mom on her phone.
“Girls?”
We jump and spin around.
“Audrina!” Bridget touches her arm. “You scared us.”
“Cleo, you’re back?” She hugs me to her large chest. “Too quick.”
“She had a mental lapse, but she’s going back tonight,” Bridget says.
Audrina, Phil’s maid, isn’t blood, but she always knew what was going on with Bridget and me.
“The boy?” Audrina asks.
See what I mean? But in this instance, I think Bridget had something to do with her telepathy.
Bridget slides her arm through Audrina’s like she always does mine. “She’s in love.”
“Love? Too young.” Audrina waves it off as if it’s not true.
I don’t say that I am. Bridget suspects, but there’s one person who needs to hear it first.
“Go, go, your parents are heading out in an hour.” She shoos us out the door. Bridget goes first, but Audrina grabs my arm to keep me by her. “You okay? Up there?”
I nod. “Yeah.”
She smiles, and her wrinkled hands cup my cheeks. “I’m proud of you. It took a lot to go up there like you did. See, I’m always telling you, taking chances pays off in gold sometimes.”
I rush into her arms, hugging her tightly because after what I’m about to do, I might never be welcome back here again. “I miss you like crazy.”
“I miss you. Bridget is never around. The house is quiet.”
“Cleo,” Bridget whispers. “You’re doing a group hug without me?”
Audrina and I open our arms, and Bridget falls into our embrace. When we all draw back, each of us has tears in our eyes.
“Now go. I need to work.” Audrina pats us forward.
Before we say anything, she shuts the door behind us.
I look at Bridget, and she links her hand with mine.
My mom must finally notice us because she turns. She taps Phil’s arm, causing him to turn in our direction. Neither of them slides out of their chairs though. Phil turns to his paper one last time before folding it and setting it next to his plate.
“Cleo?” my mom asks.
“Hey,” I say.
“Dad, do you want to go for a walk?” Bridget asks.
He flicks his wrist to l
ook at his watch. “I don’t have a ton of time, sweetie.”
“What are you doing back? Why didn’t you call?” My mom is still not standing to pull me into an embrace. She never was one for displays of affection.
“Dad.” Bridget pulls out the voice that gets Phil to do just about anything for his little girl.
He rises from the table and touches my shoulder. “Nice to see you, Cleo. I’m sure I’ll find out what this is all about later.”
“Thanks, Phil.”
He lowers his head, probably understanding that this mother-and-daughter conversation is long overdue. Phil and Bridget head off toward the stables, and I sit in the vacant chair on the other side of my mom.
“Cleo, what’s that look on your face about?” She waves her hand in the air.
“How could you not tell me?”
She arches an eyebrow. “Tell you what? You need to be more specific.”
“I found the paperwork. He left me a letter.”
Her jaw clenches and she pulls in a deep breath. “What paperwork?”
“Seriously?”
“I’m not sure what you’re here looking for.”
“I’m looking for answers, Mom. How could you let me believe he was my dad all this time? I could maybe understand if you’d stayed married to him. Or if you’d allowed me to see him more than two weeks a year. But you let him adopt me, you took his money, and denied him a relationship with me.”
She leans back and crosses her legs. “We were married when he adopted you. He wanted to pay for everything because he was your dad. And as far as seeing you, I don’t remember him ever asking for more than two weeks.”
I’m not sure how I thought I’d get any answers from her. “He tried to get full custody of me at fourteen.”
“I don’t remember that at all.” She waves off the accusation as if it’s a pesky insect.
“Never mind.” I walk back toward the house. I’ll wait for Bridget outside.
Her chair screeches along the concrete. “What do you want from me?”
I turn around. “Not to sound like Jack Nicholson from A Few Good Men, but I want the truth. I want to know why you conned a man into adopting me to hide what I assume was an unplanned pregnancy. Why you stole his money with the promise of a relationship. Why you let me believe Phil was buying everything for me when, in fact, it was Chip. Tell me why you never thought I should know.” My voice increases in volume the longer I go on.
