Brady
SOMEONE YOU LOVED
“I let my guard down and then you pulled the rug
I was getting kinda used to being someone you loved.”
Performed by Mitchell Tenpenny
Written by Barnes / Kelleher / Kohn / Roman / Capaldi
I was nervous when Cassidy, Chevelle,and I arrived at Tristan’s house on Saturday. I had my present tied in paper with red velvet paisley swirled on it that reminded me of Hannah’s favorite shawl. I was nervous about whether she would even like it. It was such a simple gift. But even more than the nerves over the present, I was anxious about seeing Tristan.
She turned down my request to talk and then hadn’t returned any more of my texts or calls on Friday. I didn’t know how she’d feel about me showing up, but I couldn’tnotshow up for Hannah’s birthday. It meant too much to her, and the little girl meant too much to me.
There was security checking IDs against a guest list before letting people through the door, and the guilt hit me all over. Hannah’s birthday was being scrutinized by every media outlet on the planet. Because of me.
Cassidy squeezed my arm as cameras took our pictures.
“It’s going to be okay, Brady.”
I looked down at my beautiful sister in a flowered skirt and lace top with the baby strapped to her chest, and my heart sagged. Her face was a series of scabs and bruises, the stitches knitted into her eyebrows. I couldn’t help but feel it was my fault as much as anything else.
Cassidy had been trying to defend Tristan when she’d fallen. She’d been chewing out the asshat who’d thrown Darren in Tristan’s face and lost her balance. I learned that from Trevor, who’d been there for the whole thing. My new PR manager, Assad, had proven his worth by hunting down the man and threatening him with a libel lawsuit if anything like what he’d been insinuating hit the streets, and so far, nothing had, but it didn’t make me feel any better.
“Do you think she’ll forgive me?” I asked my sister, running a hand over my beardless face and then trying to drag my hand through my hair, realizing there was hardly any of it left to do so. The sides were shaved with the top a mere millimeter of stubble. It was the only way Patty had been able to fix my bad self-chop job. The cut was a completely different look for me, but I didn’t hate it. Plus, it served me right for acting in frustration and anger. Things Elana would have berated me for. I wondered if she’d berate me for what I was putting Tristan through as well.
“It’s not your fault. There’s nothing to forgive,” Cass took a turn at defending me.
But it was my fault. I was the one who’d chosen to become a celebrity, not my family. Not the woman who made my heart pound and blood throb at just the thought of her. I was the reason she’d been accused of being unfaithful to the memory of a man she’d loved with all of her. The father of her child. I’d thought maybe I could be enough to make her happy again, but it had backfired. I’d brought her more pain instead.
When we entered the house, the noise was almost louder than the chorus of voices outside asking me for an interview.
The first person I saw was Dani, dark hair up in a twist, clad in yellow and royal blue—both colors she adored because of their meaning which I’d long since forgotten. I hugged her.
“Hey! It’s really good to see you,” I said.
My ex-PR manager hit me on the shoulder?hard—and I winced.
“That’s for dragging Tristan and Hannah into all this.” Remorse washed over me again, but before I could respond, she was already turning to the baby in Cassidy’s arms as she exclaimed, “Oh, Cassidy, he’s gorgeous!”
Dani put her hand on Chevelle’s dark hair and smiled down into my sleeping nephew’s face. He was pretty fricking adorable. Cassidy’s eyes lit up as she looked down at her son. Love. It was bursting from her.
“Brady!” Hannah’s voice called out, and I turned to see the little girl skipping toward me, the awkward steps of a little kid who barely knew the motion. My heart soared with pleasure. My name and the smile on her lips. I wanted this girl to be happy.
My arms went around her automatically, lifting her off the ground, swinging her around, and squeezing so tight she groaned and giggled. “Happy birthday,Chiquita!” I said, the nickname Tristan called her slipping from me for the first time, but she didn’t even register it.
“You cut your hair!” she said, staring at me as her eyes caught onto my present. “What did you get me?”
I laughed. “You’ll just have to wait ‘til you open your presents to see.”
I put her down, but she didn’t let go of my hand. “Come meet my papa and grammie,” she said as she dragged me from the entryway with Dani and Cass watching us go.
“Whoa,” Dani said behind me, a stunned look on her face, and Cass laughed.
“Yeah. You haven’t seen anything yet.”
When I got to the backyard, it was full of people. Tristan’s family, Stacy, her husband and their kids, more kids from the daycare with their parents. The only good thing about the crowd was that very few of them would care that Brady O’Neil had shown up.
