Page 90 of Lose You to Find Me

The moment is broken only for a brief pause as the waitress comes over with our food and a friendly smile.

Once she leaves, Dad reaches into the inner pocket of his jacket. “There’s something I need to give you.”

When he slides a check across the table, I nearly choke at the amount it’s made out for. “I don’t understand. What is this?”

“Money,” he answers simply, grabbing his napkin and tucking it into the collar of his button-down. “Your mother and I have been spending some time together”—I sit straighter and stare cautiously at him—“because we’ve been working on selling the cabin in Virginia. It didn’t take long to sell once the posting went live, and we just recently got the money. Your aunt Tiffany agreed that the money was better spent on you after a couple months of back-and-forth. You can use this to pay your debt and do whatever else you please with it. You should consider getting a new car so you’re not constantly nickel-and-diming yourself on the one you have. Even Dale said that thing needs to be put out of its misery, even with the work Caleb put into it.”

Caleb? “What are you talking about?”

Dad’s brow furrows “Caleb went over to Dale’s and checked it out. Worked a few hours on it with Dale’s brother during the off hours because they were so backed up. He didn’t tell you?”

Swallowing, I slowly shake my head. Why would he do that for me? “I didn’t know.” My focus goes back to the steep number, double-checking if I’m seeing where the comma is correctly. “I don’t know what to say. I never in a million years thought Tiffany would agree to selling the Radcliff estate. We have so many memories there.”

“Neither did we,” he admits. “It turns out she’s been wanting to move closer to family, so your mother loaned her some of the money from the sale to get her up here.”

It’s been a long time since my family has been this close together. “Aunt Tiffany is moving to New York? I thought she hated it here.”

Dad reaches for the ketchup bottle, opening it and putting some beside his fries. “I guess she hated being alone more,” he reasons, carefully capping it and setting it in front of me. “She wants to be closer to your mother. It’ll be good that they’ll have each other. Your mother has been missing her.”

A sinking feeling settles into my stomach over the cabin being gone just like that. It was the one place I could go to when I needed an escape. Somewhere to go in the summers when I needed time to think. Then again, it became the very place that suffocated me with poor choices that are better let go of.

I guess having nowhere to run to isn’t such a bad thing.

Picking up a fry, I study it and sigh. “This still seems like such a huge deal that I can’t wrap my head around. You and Mom don’t owe me anything. If this is Mom’s way of trying to make up for some of the tension between us—”

“That’s not it,” Dad cuts in, shaking his head firmly. “This has everything to do with the fact that you’re her daughter—the one person she’s ever truly loved.”

There isn’t any sadness in his tone when he says that, but I can see it clear as day in his eyes.

“I don’t think that’s true at all. Look how much time she’s spent with you lately. To be honest, I assumed you guys got back together. She wouldn’t spend time with you if she didn’t love you.”

His smile is empty. “We’re not getting back together, princess. The paperwork was finalized a few weeks ago. We’re officially divorced. We spent so much time together because we genuinely wanted to figure out how we could helpyou. That sort of support isn’t something either of our families gave to us, which is another reason our relationship was doomed from the beginning. Your mother wants to make sure she’s always part of your life, even if she’s being difficult. So do I. We all need to get along to make sure that happens.”

I have no idea what to say. My throat thickens as I try swallowing. Gaze blurry as I glance up at him from the check, I shake my head. “You guys didn’t have to do this.”

“We know.”

A single tear escapes the corner of my eye that I quickly swipe away. “I love you, Dad.”

Dad passes me a clean napkin for my eyes. “I love you too, kiddo. Always have, always will.”

The fact that Mom and Dad get along better when they’re divorced isn’t lost on me. It gives me hope that a split isn’t the end for everybody.

It could be the beginning.

And maybe that means the “curse” I was told about for so long doesn’t really amount to anything. My parents might not be totally happy, but they’re building something for themselves anyway. They’re at peace with their choices.

That counts for something.

Dabbing my eyes, I clear my throat and try changing the subject before I start bawling in front of everybody in the diner. “So tell me about the new property you started showing.”

Chapter Thirty-One

CALEB

Raine’s hand isbraced against the side of the West End Anthropology Building, with her head bent down and hair falling over her shoulders. There’s no hesitation before my feet turn me away from my typical path to my last final and right toward the girl in distress.

The image reminds me of one of the first frat parties we went to during college. She swore up and down that she wasn’t going to drink again after the party we went to in high school that led to her becoming well acquainted with Leon Applebee’s hedges.

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