Page 43 of Waiting Game

Until Mum left, that is.

Most kids want their parents to stick together. They’ll cry and sob. They’ll even wail if the one parent they love is taken from them. But I know none of us ever did.

We were glad she got out of this hellhole.

We wanted her to be happy.

More than that, we needed her to bealive.

We stuck around, most of us biding our time until we were eighteen and able to make our own choices. Could, in fact, reclaim our lives.

Colt beat the shit out of Pops the second the minute hand ticked past midnight on his birthday.

Cody took off for the Air Force the millisecond he was of age.

I was already billeting with the Bukowskis so I was free to not return to this place.

I’m pretty sure Callan will stick around because he loves the comfort of the ranch and is obsessed with keeping it safe.

Once I know Mum’s too far away to hear me speak… “Can’t have been that bad an episode if he’s back home already.”

“Pops wouldn’t let us in the room when the doctors gave their prognosis so I’ve no idea what’s wrong with him. I’m pretty sure I was only summoned so I could arrange for a private air ambulance to bring him home.”

“Wish I’d known. I could have hitched a ride.”

“Stop downplaying this, Cole. Not everything has to be a damn joke.”

I just purse my lips. “You think he was lying about having a heart attack?” I pause in the hall and grab ahold of his arm to drag him to a halt too. “Washe faking? No way he’d be home already if it was a cardiac episode.”

“I don’t want to think he faked it, but it’s handy that he was in Prince Albert of all places when it happened.

“It took us three hours to get there, and by that time, he was already sitting up and looking okay to me.

“The doctors came in later, but he threw us out. Said he was a grown man who didn’t need to be mollycoddled.”

“Why did you tell me to come home if you thought this whole thing was bullshit?”

“Because it might not have been. Plus, he said he’s changing his will, Cole. You have to be here for that.”

The warning falls on deaf ears. “He can’t touch our trust funds. Anyway, I don’t want anything to do with the Seven Cs.”

“I know you don’t, but he’s still in denial about it.”

“You’ve earned it. It’s yours.”

Colt’s smile is wry. “I never had a choice about whether I wanted it or not. But that’s this place for you. It gets in the blood.”

“Like malaria.” When he rolls his eyes, I continue, “What about Callan?”

“He’s my biggest concern,” Colt admits.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean that he’s claiming Callan’s not his son.”

“Not his son?!” I bark. “What the fuck? How can he not be?”

“Don’t ask me. You know what he’s like. That’s why I thought it best for you to come home—I have a feeling that the changes to his will are about Callan. We need to deal with the repercussionsof this together. I never expected Mum would be here though. I’m not sure if that helps or not.”

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