Page 22 of Marry Me, Maybe?
Maybe that was what hurt the most. Not just the cheating.
But the way they made it sound soeasy.
“How could you?” My voice cracked. “What about Carter?”
“I’m hoping he’ll want what’s best for Ozzie and give us his blessing.”
“Carter is one of the most selfish people on the planet,” I snapped. “Butyou’rehis father.He doesn’t have to be decent for you to be.”
He opened his mouth like he was going to defend it again, like he had anything left to say that wouldn’t make this worse.
“Seriously?” I braced a hand against the wall, feeling light-headed with disgust. “Ozzie? This isn’t happening.”
“Matty, I can’t help it if I’m attracted to him. I wouldn’t have acted on it, but he’s miserable in that relationship. Carter should’ve been here doing the work, but he left it all to me. All this time I spent with Ozzie…” He sounded so pitiful, so convincing, but I couldn’t accept it. If I did, then it meant maybehetoo had a good enough reason for sleeping with someone else. “I fell for him.”
“So now what?” I sneered. “You saying you’rein lovewith him?”
“We’re a good match.”
“Are you even listening to yourself?” I said, my voice pitching higher, more raw. “You’rescrewingyour son’s fiancé.Behind his back.”
“Don’t trivialize what we mean to each other.”
“But you’re fine with trivializing your relationship with Carter? With me?” I bit out. This was my dad. The man who taught me to love the land. The man who gave me a legacy. Showed me how to be a man. And this was what he resorted to? “This family’s already been ripped apart. And you’re adding more wreckage. Is this what marriage means now?Separate houses, separate lives, separate beds, and sleeping with whoever makes you feel young again?”
Something flickered in his eyes. Hurt, maybe. But I didn’t care. Not when it felt like my chest was caving in.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” he asked, tone sharper now.
“Forget it,” I muttered, shaking my head. “I can see no one gives a fuck anymore about vows and keeping your word. So by all means, enjoy your son’s lover.”
“Maybe what we’re doing isn’t ideal, but do you know what it’s like to glimpse your happiness in a rearview mirror?” he asked, quieter now. “I can’t miss it this time, Matty. It’s been a long time since I’ve been this happy, and I hope Carter can forgive us. I hopeyoucan too. Eventually.”
I shook my head hard. “I can’t. I’m sorry. And this? This is wrong on so many levels.”
He sighed like it wounded him but not enough to change anything. “I can’t force you to accept us, Matty. But I’m still your dad. You don’t have to like what we’re doing, but I won’t tolerate you disrespecting Ozzie. He doesn’t deserve it. Have I made myself clear?”
“He deserves?—”
“I said, have I made myself clear, Matty?”
I clenched my teeth so hard my jaw ached. I wanted to argue back. I wanted to call him every name in the goddamn book. Hypocrite, coward, selfish bastard. I wanted to scream that he was no better than the people he always warned me about. That he’d become the kind of man who chose desire over decency.
But I couldn’t get the words past my throat. Not because I didn’t feel them. God, Ifeltevery last one. But the years of respect I’d built for Dad—every morning chore, every quiet conversation, every lesson learnedunder his steady hand—had rooted themselves deep. Deeper than anger.
So I swallowed it all.
“Yes, sir,” I bit out, the words tasting like ash on my tongue.
Inside, I was roiling. Not just from what he’d done but from howfamiliarit felt. The betrayal. The way someone I loved could look me in the face and act like I was the one being unreasonable.
It felt like Hudson all over again. Like he’d been layered behind Ozzie the whole time, glitching in and out of view. Same guilt in the eyes. Same excuses. Same selfish bullshit dressed up like love.
5
HUDSON
The roof had dripped again last night. Enough to wake me with that slow, rhythmic, annoyingplink. So this morning, I finally climbed up and patched the damn thing myself, propped up on the rusted ladder with a hammer in one hand and a prayer in the other, expecting the worst and somehow ending up with decent results. No busted limbs and no cracked shingles.
