Page 50 of Cougar

“Congratulations?” I shrug. I mean, if he’s happy….

He scowls. “The only thing good to come out of my marriage to that woman is my daughter. Last year, I caught Becca having an affair with her boss. Our divorce was final last month.”

My eyes go wide. “Oh. Wow. I’m sorry.” I really am.

He huffs out a humorless laugh. “Talk about karma.”

“Maybe.” I shrug. “Or that’s what happens when you marry a whore.”

“Smartass.”

“How did your daughter take it?”

“She doesn’t know. She’s starting her first year of college, and Becca wants to wait until she gets settled before we tell her.”

“Do you think it’s wise to keep something like that from her?” Pot meet kettle.

“You ready to go, Emi bear?” my father’s voice cuts in. I look over to see him standing just a few feet from our table, his eyes flicking between Chris and me.

“Yes.” I stand up and pull my purse over my shoulder.

“It’s really good to see you again, Emerson.”

“You, too, Chris.” And I genuinely mean it.

* * *

“Does Mom know you eat here?” I ask my father as I slide into the booth across from him. My mother is always on him about eating healthy. Tijuana Tex-Mex is a little cantina on the boardwalk of Pelican Cove overlooking the bay. The walls and ceiling are painted a bright orange and covered with an array of caricatures and graffiti art.

My father nods. “She does. I come here every Tuesday for the two-dollar tacos and ice-cold beer.” He lifts his beer and takes a swig. “I take it you and Chris made up.”

I shrug a shoulder. “If that’s what you want to call it. He apologized.” I take a deep breath. “And I apologized, too.”

He raises his eyebrows slightly.

“I was too angry and hurt when I left,” I continue. “I never took into consideration that he’d been hurt, too. Whether it was really a mistake or not, it changed both our lives. Looking back at the whole situation, I can’t imagine how hard that had to be for an eighteen-year-old kid. We technically never broke up. I just left, and a week later I was married to another man. I should’ve broken things off that night instead of just running away. At least he would’ve gotten some kind of closure instead of harboring the guilt of what happened all those years ago.”

“True.” He nods. “He still should’ve kept it in his pants. He knew better.”

I smile. “Chris told me that when he came to apologize, you told him to fuck off.” I snicker. My father hardly ever curses. My mother curses enough for both of them.

He shrugs like it’s no big deal. “I had to. Your mother was too upset, so I took one for the team.” That makes me laugh out loud, earning a smirk from my father.

“He said Max kicked his ass.”

“He did.” My father grins proudly. “Kicked his ass real good. Then he gave him Lilly’s number and told him to man up and apologize.”

Chris had called every day. I remember Lilly telling me that he was calling at least ten times a day and she’d tell him I wasn’t there.

She wasn’t lying. I wasn’t there because I was with Marcus.

And after Marcus and I eloped, the calls stopped. My dad must’ve told him I’d gotten married.

I reach across the table and squeeze his hand. “I’m sorry, Daddy.”

“For what?”

“Because not only had my life changed, but yours had, too. You put me on a plane against your better judgment because I cried and begged you to. Because you loved me. You trusted me. And how did I repay you? By lying and then running off to Vegas and eloping with a rock star.” I shake my head. “If Jay ever did something like that to me, I would strangle her. I don’t regret one second of my life with Marcus, but I do regret hurting you.”

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