“Yes. I’d been drowning for months, and Mom and I had drifted so far apart during that time, that I was weak. I met Shayla at a bar after I’d lost tens of thousands of dollars. I didn’t even want to go home. Didn’t know how to face you all. And she was there during a very dark time. So we started carrying on, and I began shifting funds to hide things from your mom.”
I took another bite of my pancakes and tried to remember back to those days. “So you were living two lives for a while then?”
“Not really. Shayla and I just drank together—” He stopped himself from saying more. We weren’t drinking buddies, and I hardly wanted to know the gory details about him being unfaithful to my mother. “We’d spend time together after. We didn’t have much of a relationship, if I’m being honest.”
“And then she was nine months pregnant? So this must have been going on a long time.” I tried to keep my tone calm because the anger I felt for this man was strong.
“I stopped seeing her. I tried to dig myself out of the hole. I wanted to save my family. I just kept thinking one more big win would get me out of debt and no one would ever know. But I’d taken a loan against the house, I’d emptied your and Talia’s college funds, I’d basically robbed Peter to pay Paul.”
Was he really going biblical now? I took a long sip of juice and waited for him to continue, because I hadn’t expected this today. Hell, I could empathize more with an addiction than I could an affair. But either way, he still left us with nothing.
“I was going to tell your mom about the gambling the night that Shayla showed up. I hadn’t seen her in months and she knocked at our front door and announced her pregnancy. It all blew up. I was broke. I’d cheated. And I was about to be a father again.”
I leaned back and let out a long breath. “Jesus. So how did you end up with Shayla if you hadn’t even been together for months?”
“You, mom, and Talia all left. Mom was disgusted with me. I most definitely hit rock bottom that night. I reached out to Grammie and Pops. They paid for me to go to rehab for ninety days. I was in a program, Ty. That’s why it took me so long to list the house. I’d been gone for three months dealing with my addiction and the fact that I’d lost my family. When I got out, I went to meet Sebastian, and Shayla and I weren’t together for a long time. I started to put my life back together, sold the house, and started rebuilding.”
“For some reason, I find peace in knowing that you were struggling during that time too because we really struggled, Dad. We had nothing. Thankfully Mom’s family stepped up and I hustled to make money,” I said, because all the pieces in the puzzle were falling together now.
I still hated him, but I was a little less angry.
And there was only one person that I wanted to talk to.
Chapter Nineteen
Ivy
“When you find your Big Sexy, hold on tight!” Coco, four weeks after signing the contract with Roman
I hurried down to the lake after Ty called. We met at our favorite spot. He never came back after breakfast with his dad. I’d dropped Sebastian off and waited at the house for him.
He’d just filled me in on his father and his addiction. All the details that had been left out all these years. It didn’t change what Ty’s dad did, but at least it explained a bit more of the unraveling. He seemed more at peace when he spoke about his father than he had before today.
“Is he happy with Shayla?” I asked, as we sat on a blanket down by the water. The sun was shining down on us, and the sound of birds chirping in the background as the water lapped against the shore, always comforted me.
“He said that he started rebuilding what he lost and he didn’t think she could provide for Sebastian on her own, and he wasn’t disillusioned about why she was with him. He said he knew he lost his first family, so he did what he could to save his second family.” Ty turned to look at me and I nearly lost it. The sadness. The hurt. I pushed to my knees and wrapped my arms around him.
“It’s really sad, right? Everyone lost in this. Including your dad.”
“Yeah,” he said, his breath tickling my neck as I continued to hug him tight. “He said he tried to repair things with my mom a year later before he and Shayla gave it a go, but she wanted nothing to do with him. Which I understand. But he also made it clear that he lost the best woman he’d ever known due to his addiction. He apologized and I don’t know, I guess it helped. I never thought he’d be man enough to actually apologize or own his shit.”
“That’s really good, Ty. And you talked to him about being there more for Sebastian?”
“I did. I told him the best way he could make up for his wrongs was to do right by that little boy. He deserves better than what they’re giving him. Hell, I always had a rock star of a mom, so I can’t imagine both parents being absent,” he said.
I dropped back down to sit beside him, and I gazed out at the water. “Look at all this closure you’re doing. Who knew? All you had to do was come to Willow Springs and everything got better.”
“You make everything better,” he said as he nudged me with his shoulder. “Hell, Lucy said she sees such a difference in me just from being here the past two weeks.”
“What did she say?”
“Just that I’m more open when we talk. I seem lighter. Happier. That’s all because of you.”
A lump formed in my throat, and I nodded. “I feel lighter and happier too.”
“Everyone is excited to meet you tomorrow.”
“I’m looking forward to meeting them too,” I said, because it was true. There was a whole different side to Ty’s life that I didn’t know. And that felt strange. To feel this close to someone and not really know what their real life was like.
I wanted to know everything about Ty’s life.
When my eyes opened the following morning, I reached over in the bed, and I surged to sit up when I realized that Ty wasn’t there.
“Ty,” I shouted as panic coursed through my veins.
He came walking around the corner and smiled. When he saw the look on my face, he hurried over and dropped to sit beside me, wrapping his arms around me. “Hey, I’m right here.”
I blinked up at him a few times, in a bit of a foul mood after the dream I’d just had. “What time is it?”
“It’s late. Almost eleven in the morning.” He chuckled as he pushed the hair out of my face.
“What? I can’t believe I slept that late.” I moved away from him and climbed out of bed.
“I knew you took today off of work, so I figured you needed the sleep,” he said, as he studied me. “You okay?”