Page 58 of Home Sweet Home

“I’m trying to do a U-turn on my life. I wanted to see you and Josh. That’s all.”

Josh.She’d forgotten all about him.Fuck.Her eyes darted to his closed bedroom door.

“He's in there. Slammed the door shut less than a minute after I walked in.”

Evie sank into a chair at the table.

Once, she’d gone on the Slingshot ride with Josh at the county fair. She was afraid of heights, but he wasn’t tall enough to ride without her. It had thrown her from side to side, over and over, and when it jolted to a stop, she was so disoriented, she’d toppled into the dirt the second she stepped off the platform. Sitting in her kitchen chair, she was just as turned around, no ride necessary. A surprise visit from the last person she’d expected was equally whiplash-inducing.

Her dad must have taken her sitting down as an invitation for him to join her, because he sat, too, and took a long swig from his beer. “How are ya, kiddo?”

Evie wondered where to start.I work at the same diner Mom worked at, making barely enough money for us to eat. Something is wrong with Josh, and I don’t know what to do. We almost lost the house. I have a thing I can’t describe with a famous baseball player.She worked up the nerve to glance at him. He looked at her with simple ease, like everything was good between them. As he drank the beer she’d paid for, another thought popped into her head.

I had to give up everything because of you.

Evie took a measured drink of water and followed it up with a deep breath, hoping to still the tremor in her hands. “Fine.”

“And Josh? Couldn’t squeeze a word out of him.”

“Good. He graduates next year.”

“He’s playing ball?”

Evie narrowed her eyes. “How did you know that?”

“Cleats,” he said, tipping his head toward the living room. “By the front door. Assumed those weren’t yours.”

“He’s playing for the Cougars. I’m coaching.” She corrected herself. “Assistant coaching.”

Her dad’s laugh came out as a short, punctuated guffaw. “I’d heard, but I didn’t believe it. Remember that shiner you got the one time you played? Figured that was the end of the line for you and sports.”

For a second, Evie could see her dad standing in the kitchen door while her mom dabbed at Evie’s skin with a cotton ball. She’d forgotten he was there in the first place. The windows of his presence in her life were so small and spaced out. She was surprised he even remembered.

Evie crossed her arms over her chest. “I’m helping with logistics. How are you getting your life together?”

His brows cinched in toward the spot above his nose, his eyes glassy as he wondered what he’d missed.

“You said you were trying to make your life better. I want to know how.”

There was a crack in the smile he’d plastered on when she walked in the front door. “I’ve been going to meetings. Ain’t easy finding them on the road.”

“You’ve been to meetings before,” Evie said, giving him what she hoped was a defiant stare.

Hurt crossed his face, as if she’d slapped him. “It’s different this time. I have a new business. Just getting started, but I’ve got a few leads.”

Evie stopped midsip. This one was off-script. “What kind of business?”

“It’s new, like I said. Still working out the details. But all these meetings, they’ve helped me clear my mind. I need to do something besides bounce from one casino to the next.”

She wanted to believe him, and she knew from the earnest look on his face that he believed himself. She tried to think back to all the other times he’d come back.Was he just as convincing then?Her mind was unfocused after everything with West, and after a few seconds, she gave up trying to remember.

Evie got up from the table and placed her cup in the pile of dirty dishes in the sink, stacked so high, they were a light breeze away from toppling over the sides. “There are clean towels in the bathroom. You can sleep on the couch.”

With a smile, her dad got up from his spot at the table and started toward the bathroom. In the hallway, he stopped and rapped his knuckle on the doorframe. “Good to see my best girl.”

When he was gone, Evie picked up his empty beer bottle, put it in the trash, and scrubbed at the ring it had left on the table.

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