Page 71 of Grumpy Sunshine

My brows rose.“Can I have it back?”

“Yes,” she said.“I always thought that it was important to her, so I kept it.”

Relieved, I said, “I’m just about to sit down and eat, but I’ll call you back once I get more information out of everyone.”

“All right,” she sighed.“I always knew she was a bad person, but why do I get the feeling that our mother is the absolute worst?”

I snorted.“Because she is.”

Silver hung up after a few expletives, leaving me staring at Chevy as he handed out what looked to be burgers.

“I only got you plain with everything on the side because I didn’t know what you liked on it, except for hating mustard,” he said as he put the massive burger in front of me.

My mouth watered.

The doorbell rang again, and Chevy got up to check the door.

“That’ll be Cakes,” he said.“I figured you wanted your answers sooner rather than later.”

I melted.

That was the sweetest thing ever.

Chevy opened the door and I gasped when I saw the huge cake that Cakes brought into the room with him.

“The reason he’s named Cakes,” Chevy said, seeing my surprise.“Is because the man can fuckin’ cook.He also makes the best goddamn cakes I’ve ever tasted.”

Cakes came into the room and said, “Since your other one I made went to waste, I brought this one.”

Tears blurred my eyes, and he saw them.

“I…” he hesitated.

“They’re good tears.”I wiped them away.“Would you like a burger?I’ll share some of mine.”

“No, baby,” he said.“Eat.I already ate.You can listen while I talk.”

So that was exactly what I did.

“Your mom and I met when I was eighteen and working at my father’s bakery,” he started.“At the time, I had no idea she was damn near pushing thirty.She looked all of eighteen, and I was hooked.We slept around for about six months before she took off, saying she didn’t like the monogamous life.Shortly after that is when I met Cally, and I was just so enraptured that I didn’t think about your mother ever again.Not until after things went really bad with Cally and me.”

I listened while my dad explained his entire life to me, ending with a piece of paper on the table.

“You are mine,” he said as he showed me the results of a DNA test.“I’m sorry that she didn’t tell you.Or me.”

I shook my head.“She lied about my father being Swedish and going back to Europe?My mother is…” I searched for the right words.

“A selfish bitch?”Chevy offered.

I snorted.“Actually, yes.”

I felt like I was having an out-of-body experience.

I mean, I had a dad.

Adad!

All my life, I’d wanted one, and now here I was, an adult, finding out that I did, in fact, have one.

---