Page 24 of Drunk Dialing My Enemy

I kiss her again.

“Have your coffee,” I tell her. “I’m going to the hardware store. I’ll be back.”

Okay. Technically this is a lie. But I can’t exactly tell her that I want to pick out a ring this morning, can I?

I’ll get her a better one later. Bigger diamond, better band, whatever. She can design it herself, customize everything. For now, though, I’m getting her something quick. Something to put on her pretty little finger so that every man who looks her way will understand that she belongs to me.

The sooner I get her down the aisle, the sooner we can move onto my other plans for us. Plans that include knocking her up as many times as she’ll let me.

I feel like I’ve waited all my life for her. And now that I’ve finally got her, I’m going to make the most of every fucking day. I don’t care if it’s fast, I don’t care what anyone else might say on the matter.

Least of all my father.

That’s why I’m so annoyed to see him at the hardware store. Yes, I reallydidneed something from the hardware store. I just neglected to tell Katie I’ve got another stop before I come back to her place.

Dad’s right at the exit, about to go inside. once he finishes his cigarette of course.

Yes, he’s a cardiovascular surgeon who smokes cigarettes. It’s stupid and makes no fucking sense. Then again, neither does cheating on the woman who gave him children and made his house a home.

I’m on speaking terms with Dad right now, but that hasn’t always been the case. Really, it’s only because of Mom and Dot that I reunited with him a few Thanksgivings ago. I hate to see a woman cry, and because of my feud with my father, I was making two of the most important women in my life cry. I feltlike I was ruining the holidays. So I shook his hand and told him it’s water under the bridge.

It’s not true, of course.

But I’m trying. Maybe one day, I’ll get there. Maybe if I keep moving, one day I’ll finally arrive at that magical place my therapist calls forgiveness.

Until then, the unexpected sight of him is threatening to ruin my morning. Which is saying something, because up until now, this was the best damn morning of my life.

“Darren, what are you doing here?” Dad tries to discreetly put out the cigarette beneath his shoe, which is stupid. We all know he never quit. And the smoke that lingers in the air between us is a dead giveaway.

“PVC joiner,” I explain curtly. “One of my properties has a leak.”

He nods, a shadow crossing his face. I know that my chosen path in life isn’t what he wanted for me. He dreamed of one of us going into medicine, preferably me as his eldest and the son. Some kind of macho idea that his pride and joy, the son who is the spitting image of him, should follow in his footsteps.

To Dad, I was only ever an extension of him. It shocked him when I was angry at him for cheating on our mom. Shocked him again when I said no to school halfway through my sophomore year. I dropped out and became an apprentice for a local master carpenter, then moved to Wild Bronco and got to work.

Since then, I’ve done well for myself. Well enough to buy multiple commercial properties. I buy them, fix them up, and lease them out to local Wild Bronco businesses. Everyone wins.

Now I’m actually doing pretty well for myself and am on track to one day earn just as much as some early career surgeons do. But that’s not enough for good old Dad.

It’ll never be enough.

You’re not him.That’s what my firecracker said. And she’s right.

“I’ll see you around, Dad,” I say.

Though true, I’m not surewhenI plan to see him. Whenever Dot calls me and chews me out for avoiding family functions, I suppose.

Maybe family functions will be a little easier with Katie by my side. We’ll have our own little family within my larger one, creating our own happiness.

Dad looks like he’d like to say more, but I just keep walking to my truck. I’ve got one more stop to go, and I’d like to get back to my girl as soon as possible.

CHAPTER 11

KATIE

“Anyways,now my boss is insisting that I work late into the evenings with him until the case is concluded.”

“Can you work remotely?” I ask hopefully.

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