Page 80 of You Loved Me Once
I hear my brother’s bike fire up, and I have no idea if he’s leaving for good, but I can’t worry about him. He’s going to make his choices, and in the end, he will have to live with them.
“I don’t know how you did this, Mom.” I touch her face in the photo.
I grab the cleaning rag, unwilling to think about the very shitty options ahead of me, and tidy up. Cleaning is mindless and I’ve done enough thinking for a long time.
Once the bedroom is livable, I head to the worst room in the house, the bathroom. I gag and cut a hole in a plastic garbage bag and pull it on, making myself a hazmat suit. I swear, if anything is dead in here, I’m burning the house down.
For over an hour, I scrub every surface, and manage to keep myself from puking twice. I run the water, washing out the tub that’s now been bleached. I feel like I need to do the same to my body, when I hear Westin’s voice.
“Hey,” I say, wiping the sweat from my brow as I emerge.
He chuckles, looking at my homemade protective suit. “Interesting outfit.”
“Don’t mock. I was cleaning and needed protection.”
Westin shakes his head and looks around. “You did good.”
“I know, and look, you’re alive.”
“Why wouldn’t he be?” Dad asks.
“Because you’re crazy when it comes to men and me,” I remind him.
He waves his hand at me. “I scared off the idiots. Westin is a good one.”
“You figured that out in two hours?”
Daddy smiles. “Try two seconds. A man knows when another man isn’t worthy.”
I forgot, men have a secret radar that’s foolproof.
“Exactly, Mick,” Westin agrees. “Glad to see I passed the test.”
Mick? He called him Mick? What the hell? I think the fumes are sending me into some kind of alternate reality.
“Sure did. Wes and I got that carburetor working again. He’s good with his hands,” Dad praises him.
Mick and Wes? I have no idea what to think of this revelation, but at the same time, my heart swells. I’ve never seen my father like this, and it means the world to me. There’s no man in this world I love more than Daddy, and I don’t know if I could love someone who he hated.
Westin’s eyes are trained on me and I smile. How could I have been so blind? For two years, this amazing man has been right in front of me, and I’m not letting him go now.
“Well, he’s a surgeon, Daddy,” I grin. “Did you andWeshave a good time?”
“We were fixing a car, pumpkin, not braiding each other’s hair,” Dad scoffs and heads to the fridge.
I raise my hand in surrender and then remove the bags from my body.
Westin laughs. “Your dad had it figured out. I think he was being nice.”
“Serenity can tell you, I’m never nice when it comes to cars or my daughter,” Dad retorts and I nod.
“He’s right,” I agree. “He’s not even nice to his daughter about cars.”
“Well, then I’m glad I could help,” he tells Daddy.
Dad yawns and looks around the house. “You cleaned up. Everton will be happy...before he trashes it again.”
My brother’s name reminds me that I have a serious issue I need to handle before I leave. Who is going to help take care of the man who spent his whole life doing just that for me?
