“Well, you can go on over and find Cody something after lunch,” Mom told him. “Something that lets him see he matters to you.”
The front door opened, and they all yelled outshoestogether.
The next thing he knew, his brothers Tripp and Zane were tromping in, joking about something going on with the cows.
As the house filled with laughter and friendly voices,Cash felt happy and sad all at once. After all, this big, boisterous family was the boy’s birthright, and he hadn’t been here all this time to enjoy it.
On the other hand, Cash was going to get to introduce him to it now, as long as the kid gave him the chance.
I’m going to figure this out. Whatever it takes.
10
BELLA
Bella paced her tiny living room while she waited for Cody to put his stuff away and come back out to talk to her.
All day long she had been practicing various ways to tell him Cash was in town, but none of them really felt right.
“Hey,” Cody finally said from the threshold of his room.
“Come on out and sit with me,” Bella said, moving to the sofa.
Cody moved to the chair and lowered himself into it. The expression on his face was guarded, like maybe he thought he’d done something wrong.
“First off,” Bella said. “I have to congratulate you. Everyone at the library was watching your video and telling me how incredibly talented you are.”
Cody smiled and looked down at his hands. He was such a humble kid.
“And it seems like someone else was impressed too,”she said, forcing herself to continue. “He dropped what he was doing and came all the way out here to see you. But I’m not going to let him, unless it’s what you want.”
“My dad,” Cody guessed softly, his eyes rising to meet hers.
“Yes,” Bella said. “Now, before you make any decisions, I have to give you a warning.”
“Okay?” Cody said.
“You know that Cash is a celebrity,” Bella said. “And it seems like your video has become a bit of a scandal for him because everyone is saying that he’s your father. That’snotyour fault, obviously. But it’s possible that his publicity people sent him out here to write you a check, take a photo for his socials, and then disappear again.”
“Oh,” Cody said flatly.
“And if you choose to meet him, and that’s what happens,” Bella went on, “I know it will hurt. But you have to remember thathe doesn’t know you.So it won’t be personal.”
Cody sighed.
“Now, I know you didn’t ask for my advice,” she said. “But if you want it, here you go. I don’t think you should meet with him. I think you’ve had a hard enough year with enough disruption. If I were you, I’d send him packing. But this isyourdecision.”
“The kids at school said he wasn’t really my dad,” Cody said.
Bella somehow kept her mouth shut instead of storming about the kids at school, knowing that if she could get him talking, she needed to let him keep going.
“I guess it would be good for me to get a picture too,” he said after a moment.
She couldn’t help smiling at that.
“So,youwant to meet withhimfor publicity reasons?” she asked.
He shrugged.
