Page 93 of The One I Left Behind

He shakes his head. “I’m just saying what I heard.”

I put my napkin on the table. “I don’t expect you to understand this, but I trusted Ben, and I wish he would’ve come to me. He chose to handle it on his own, and that’s not fair when you’re in a relationship and it’s going to affect the other person. You communicate with one another.” I pick up my dish and walk over to the sink.

Two arms wrap around my shoulders. “Thanks for being a great mom. I love you.”

I pat his hands. “I love you too.” I turn around and rest my hands on the counter behind me. “So, now it’s your turn to confess all. What’s going on with Kait?”

He laughs, and I’ve never wanted to hear that sound more than I do right now.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Ben

A week later…

I walk into the kitchen and find my dad sitting at the table, which is strange since it’s not Sunday.

“Gillian still not answering you?” he asks.

I shake my head and pour myself a coffee. “I was just trying to?—”

“Yeah, love makes people do stupid things, but your thing was selfish and stupid.”

“Gee, thanks, Dad. I gotta go shower.”

“Sit down, Ben.”

We don’t ever turn our backs on our dad, so I pull out the old kitchen chair my dad hasn’t replaced since I was a kid.

“I know why you did it, and I should have had this conversation with you earlier. Your mom is probably shouting at me right now. You’ve been by yourself and made your own decisions all these years. You didn’t have to think of anyone but yourself. And you love Gillian, and you want to be a family with Gillian and Clayton, no?”

I nod.

“You thought you were helping. Taking it off her plate. But women… they don’t want that. If it’s going to affect the family, you communicate with her and come to the decision together.”

“Didn’t you, like, knock some guy on his ass when he hit on Mom once?” I arch an eyebrow.

“That’s not what I’m talking about. That’s jealousy, and your mom pretended to be mad, but she didn’t want that creep anywhere near her. I wasn’t going to look at your mom and say, ‘Should I hit him?’”

I shake my head. “You’re confusing me.”

“What you did didn’t affect you two for one night. It was deep. You shared a secret that she’s been keeping for years. And I assume you weren’t going to tell her that you knew Waylon was two towns over?”

I shrug.

“It’s the secrets, Ben. Secrets don’t have any place in a relationship. Now that you’ve tried to keep it a secret and it all came out, Gillian’s trust in you has been severed.”

“That’s a little severe.”

“Severed means severe, Ben.”

I throw my hands in the air. “I know, Dad.” I sound like an asshole teenager, and my dad shoots me his warning glare.

“You have to give her time to come to terms with what happened. If she loves you, she will.”

“You expect me to just sit around here? I’ve waited a fucking week. Hell, I’ve waited fifteen years.”

“If you don’t want to wait, then you have to go after her. But words aren’t going to do it. Only actions.”

---