Page 45 of Wait For Me

My eyes narrowed down so far, I was basically squinting at my father. “So, it’s okay for people to lash out when they have a broken heart? It’s quite all right for them to hurt other people as a means to spread the misery and laugh in their faces instead of focusing on their own hurts? It's okay to be disloyal now?”

“Star,” Bagger said my name so quietly that I almost missed it. “You haven’t been around for four years. I get what you’re saying and how you felt back then, but you don’t have a clue what’s gone on with your brother and Ashlynn since then.”

“And whose fault is that?” I asked. “Their relationship aside, no one even bothered to tell me I had a nephew, and he’s already six months old. That’s nine months of pregnancy and six months of life where anyone could have said something to me, but you all chose not to. Kip told you not to tell me. So, how dare he, or any of you, expect me to just get over it and understand what’s gone on with them when I’ve been shut out of his life for years. I went there to try to fix things with my brother and was quickly reminded that it wasn’t up to me. Things are just going to remain broken.”

“Don’t say that” my father moaned. “What would your mother think? She would hate that her children don’t even speak to one another?”

“I’ll tell you one thing my mother wouldn’t have done,” I yelled at him. “She wouldn’t have allowed this silence from him to fester. He had access to me and my life whenever he wanted. So, let’s not forget, Kip is the one who shut me out completely, and why? Because I wanted to go explore life without being chained down to everyone else’s whims and expectations. Meanwhile, he’s allowed to ignore me, keep me out of his life completely, and paint me as the bad guy here.”

“You’re not the bad guy,” my father tried to say.

“I already know that!” I yelled again before growling out my frustration. “Listen, I actually came here to tell you that since Aunt Viv is better, I’m going to get a house secured in the area. Those two need their space and I don’t need to be in it while they celebrate her recovery.” I shivered much to my father’s amusement. “Once I do that, I’m going to head out for a while again.”

“What? You just got here!”

“I’ve been here for months, Dad.”

“I’ve barely seen you,” he argued.

“Whose fault is that?” I asked.

He hung his head and sighed so heavily I could feel the weight of it across the room. “Why must you keep running away?”

“Why must you make it out like me searching for things that make me happy is about running away? I found and reinvented myself over again out there during my travels. I’ve learned so much and become more than I ever could have while stifled under everyone’s watchful eyes here.”

“I know, but…”

“No. There are no buts. If I feel like traveling, I will. I am my own person and I’m not asking anyone here for anything.” I turned to Bagger then. “I overheard you talking about your restaurant, and I know what it’s like not to want to be under the thumb of the club. Show me your business plan, if it looks solid, I will be a silent investor. You work toward paying me back, just as you would have done with the banks. When my investment, plus the agreed upon interest is repaid, I will sign my part in the restaurant back over to you.”

“I can’t ask you to do that,” Bagger whispered, obviously stunned by my offer.

“Baby girl, I think you underestimate the size of the investment needed to get a restaurant up and running. The building he owns used to be a bakery. There are a lot of renovations that need to be done, checks to be paid, inventory,” my father started listing off things I already knew.

“I am well aware of those things.”

“But you don’t have the capital to loan is what I’m saying.”

I cocked my head to the side and grinned at my dad. “I was an early angel investor for a little startup tech company you might have heard of. I’m not going to tell you who it was because frankly, it’s not your business. I know all about the risk assessments involved and my finances are plenty stable. Even if I lost every bit of what I invest into the restaurant, I’ll still be flush.”

Both men looked at me curiously then. “I know that you found out about the money I made on the cryptocurrency.” When they said nothing, and pretended like they had no clue what I was talking about, my eyes rolled so hard I might have channeled my inner pre-teen again. “Did you think I would stupidly just spend it all like it would never run out, and not find ways to make more?”

“That’s what a lot of people do.”

“Well, I learned a few lessons about finances and investments during my travels.” Bagger’s clenched fists and ticking jaw were enough for me to know he knew exactly who taught me those things. I turned to him. “You can bring me your information, and if it seems sound, I’ll invest. You could also ignore this offer and try the same shit you’ve been doing and see how far you get.” I shrugged my shoulders.

“I’ll get you the information,” Bagger told me, and I didn’t miss the grin that my father didn’t even try to hide from us.

“Great, now that we have business out of the way, what happened to all of your beautiful hair?” I reached out and ran my fingers across the shortest parts of his hair and was mesmerized by the soft stubble there.

“You thought my hair was beautiful?”

There was no way I would admit to how many fantasies I had over the years involving me pulling and tugging on that hair. Instead, I just nodded as he grinned at me.

“Figured I needed to look more businesslike to get financing secured for the restaurant.”

I shook my head. “Why didn’t you ask me?”

“I would never have asked you.”

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