Page 19 of Mine to Keep

“That’s not fair.” His mother planted her hands on her hips. “When you married Cheryl, we accepted her into the family.”

Jamison laughed. “Are you fucking kidding me? That isn’t even close to the same thing. And you still favor her over me half the time.”

“Because I’m not sure you should have divorced her so quickly. You didn’t even go to therapy when there was so much going on in your life. You basically cut Cheryl out and—”

“And what, Mom? Because if that next statement isn’t that she cheated on me and destroyed our marriage, I’ve got nothing left to say.”

“You’re behaving like a spoiled child.”

“Perhaps I am.” Actually, he knew that was how he was acting. And, frankly, he didn’t give a rat’s ass. Every single time this came up, he felt like the rug had been pulled out from under him and was reminded how his entire world had changed in a flash.

“Your father doesn’t have a problem with you and Steve—”

“This isn’t about Dad,” Jamison said. “This is about you and what you and Steve did to me and how it changed my life. You didn’t think about my feelings—or Dad’s—when you did that DNA test. It was all about Steve.”

“It was about finally telling the truth.” His mother sniffled. “Steve came back because the guilt of leaving you had been eating him alive for years. You don’t know what it’s like to let another man raise your child.”

“Really? Then why did he wait a full year after moving back to Lighthouse Cove to tell me that he was my father?”

“It’s complicated. He left. He got married and had a family. He couldn’t just leave. Just like I couldn’t. “

“A bunch of excuses.” Jamison’s stomach turned over. This was the part of the conversation when he generally lost his shit. Tonight, he would bite his tongue. He’d made a promise to his father, and now to Lanie, that he’d do better. “I don’t want to fight. But I also don’t want to talk about it constantly.”

“If we don’t, then how do we get past it?”

“You all made the choice to make me a Kirby. And, to be honest, I’m happy as a pig in shit that you did. I’m proud to be Dalton Kirby’s son. I want to keep it that way.” The worst day of Jamison’s life had been when everyone in Lighthouse Cove had found out that he wasn’t a Kirby by blood. “I don’t think we have anything else left to discuss.”

“You’re breaking my heart.”

“You broke mine two years ago when you showed up at my door with Steve and told me that he was my father,” he said.

His mother turned and slipped through the fence. She didn’t glance over her shoulder once before disappearing around the corner.

A few minutes later, the sound of a car engine tickled his ears.

Jamison stomped though the door into the kitchen where he found Chip leaning against the counter with two shots lined up next to a couple of open beers. “You could have come out and saved me.”

“Fuck, no,” Chip said. “I know better than to do that with your mother, especially when she’s carrying a loaded weapon.” He handed Jamison a shot. “Bottoms up.”

Jamison clanked the glass on the granite top before downing the liquid. It burned for a few seconds before warming his gut. “Let’s go paint a baby girl’s room and put together some furniture.” He would make sure that Bryn and her precious daughter, Zadie, had more than they needed when they came home.

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