Once again, the drive back to campus is a hazy blur. But this time, I pass The Chapel and keep going. It’s stupid, and I know it. I need my guys, and hell, I need my girls even more, but I can’t think straight. I pull into Wolfie’s and take a seat at the bar. Lindsey’s working, so the drinks come fast and strong. Before I know it more than an hour has passed, and I still can’t make sense of the situation. How could she have kept my father from me? What kind of person does that? The kind of person, I guess, who would keep me from my child. But I just don’t get it.
It feels like my whole life has been a lie. Hell, it really has. Like there’s this whole other side of me that I don’t even know about. I feel strange and untethered like I’m floating with no way back to shore.
But maybe that’s the alcohol talking, I wonder, as the wall in front of me starts to sway.
“There he is.” I hear Ty’s voice behind me, but I don’t have the coordination to turn around without falling off this damn barstool.
But I don’t have to. Booker and Ty flank me on either side and help me stand.
“Wha’r you guys doing here?”
“Coming to rescue your ass and sober you up so you can beg for forgiveness properly. Willa’s been out of her mind. We got home almost two hours ago. All you had to do was drop off Ronin and you should have been right behind us. What the hell happened?” Ty asks as we leave the bar. I hope to hell someone paid my tab as I crawl into the backseat of Ty’s car.
Booker shoves a cardboard cup in my face and tells me to drink up and explain.
“I will,” I tell them. “But first, I need to see my girls.”
Chapter 26
Knox
The combinationof cold air and coffee does the trick, and I’m pretty sober by the time we make it back to The Chapel.
Ty and Phoebe have Rose, so I head upstairs to explain, half expecting Willa to have her bags packed.
But she doesn’t. She’s curled up in our bed, the crocheted blanket she loves wrapped around her legs. She’s wearing the Rockvale sweatshirt I stole from Booker years ago, and her eyes are rimmed in red.
I peel off my clothes, figuring I smell like a bar, and crawl in beside her, tugging her close.
“What the hell? Where have you been? I was going out of my mind thinking you crashed on the highway and were dead in a ditch somewhere.”
“I’m sorry. So sorry. It’s...today was a fucking mess. I went to Wolfie’s to get my head on straight, but...yea. Now that I say it out loud, going to a bar to gather my thoughts sounds pretty damning.”
“What happened?”
Lying in our bed, I wrap my arms around Willa and tell her everything. About my mom. And my dad.
She holds me and lets me rage.
“Do you forgive me?”
“Of course, I do, but don’t pull this shit again. We’re together, Knox. You and me. You made me promise to trust you, and now I need you to do the same thing. I’m your safe place, babe. When shit goes down, I’m the one you come to. You said I needed to trust you, but you need to trust me, too. Don’t sit your ass at a bar. Come home to me and to Rose. And your boys. We love you. And we’re your family.”
She’s right, and I know it. I stay wrapped in her arms for a little while longer, then pull on some sweats and a t-shirt so we can head downstairs. I owe the rest of my family an explanation.
I hear noise in the kitchen, and look up to see Ty, Phoebe, and Booker all gathered around the counter. There’s a bottle of my favorite whiskey and a row of shot glasses all lined up. And leaning against one of those shot glasses is a phone. Whit’s face comes into view, but I can’t tell where he is. It looks like a non-descript, standard-issue hotel room, but that makes no sense. He’s supposed to be at his mom’s. Either way, he’s here for me like the rest of my true family is.
Ty pours the shots and offers me one.
“Jesus, are you tryin’ to kill me. You just sobered my ass up and now we’re doing shots?”
Ty laughs. “Right, cause you’ve never done that before. I’ll take pity and pour you a short one. How’s that, birthday boy?”
The whiskey burns going down my throat, the feeling strangely soothing. Next to me, Willa’s face twists in disgust as she takes the shot Ty gave her.
“It’s a testament to my love for you that I drank that,” she tells me.
“Then you’re my ideal woman.”
