“It’s null and void.” He smirks. “Has been since you left.”
“How many?” I ask him, thinking of how many of my friends he’s hooked up with and broke their hearts.
“A gentleman never kisses and tells.” He sits down, and I look around.
“I don’t see any gentlemen here,” I say, grabbing my own chair and sitting down. “You.” I point at Olivia. “Come sit here next to me.”
“Would you relax? I can handle myself.” She pulls out the chair and sits down. “Oh my gosh, is that fried chicken?”
“Yup,” I say when my mother puts down the plate of chicken. “That’s chicken fried steak.” I point at the plate next to the chicken. “That’s shrimp and grits. And then collard greens, biscuits with gravy you can also put on the chicken fried steak, and cornbread.”
“I’m going to be a million pounds when I leave here,” Olivia says, looking at all the food. I’m about to grab a piece of chicken when a phone rings, and we both look at each other. The panic in her eyes is apparent, and she almost bolts from the table. Casey’s eyes fly to hers and then mine as he pulls his phone out of his back pocket. He looks down and then looks at me.
“’Bout fucking time you took your head out of your ass,” he says and looks at me and then my parents as he pushes away from the table. “I was calling to give you a heads-up.” He walks out of the room.
“No one will touch you here,” my father says softly, and Olivia grabs her napkin and dabs her eyes. I don’t say anything when Casey comes back into the house, the door slamming behind him.
I watch him toss his phone on the counter. “Well, it’s safe to say people know you’re back.”
Chapter Five
Jacob
“Is this going to be a problem?” Savannah asks, and I shake my head.
“Ethan, say bye to Mom,” I tell my son who walks over to his mom and reaches up to give her a hug.
“Love you, kiddo,” she says and then she looks at me. “Can you call me later?”
“Will do.” I nod at her. Having Kallie back in town is fucking with me, and I saw her for point seven seconds. I feel shifted, and I hate it. I get Ethan in the truck and buckle him in. “Eat what your mom packed you.” I point at the lunch bag that he put on the seat when he got in.
After closing the door, I try my hardest to slow my heart rate, but I know I have to call Casey. I get into the truck and drive over to the football field. I get Ethan out of his seat, then grab his equipment from the back. “You finish your food?” I ask, and he just nods. “Have a good game,” I say and kiss his head.
I wait for him to get to his coach before I grab my phone out of my pocket and call Casey, who answers after three agonizing rings.
“’Bout fucking time you took your head out of your ass,” he says.
“Kallie’s back in town.” I don’t even bother acknowledging his previous statement. There are a lot of things I feel for the whole family, but I can only step in the ring with Casey.
“I was calling to give you a heads-up.” I hear a chair scrape, and I wonder if he’s at home with her.
“Cut the bullshit,” I hiss. “The last thing you would ever do was help me.”
“Wasn’t me who had a kid with someone else, was it?” He always hits below the belt. “Either way, I just wanted you to know she’s back.”
“I saw that,” I say, then my voice goes soft. “She saw me already. I was in front of the station with Ethan.” I don’t know why I say it, but I do. I say it because I know that if the roles were reversed and I saw her with a child she had with someone else, I would need to bury my sorrows in a bottle of whiskey. Fuck, just the thought of it makes me sick.
“Fuck,” he hisses. “Needless to say, I think it’s a good idea if you both avoid each other.”
“Works for me,” I say and disconnect the call. I walk over to the stands and take my usual spot. A couple of parents wave at me, and some of the dads walking by stop and shake my hand.
My foot moves up and down with nerves, and I force myself not to go back to the past. I force myself not to think about how the whole family kept her from me. I force myself not to go back down the black hole of what happened when she left.
“Hey.” I spot Beau climbing the bleachers, and he sits next to me.
“Hey there, future mayor,” I joke with him. He’s dressed in slacks and a white button-down rolled up at the sleeves.
“Very funny,” he says, shaking his head. “What’s the scoop?”
“Kallie is back in town,” I say, looking at the field and avoiding his stare. Out of everyone, he is the only one who saw how hard it was for me when Kallie left. The night of prom, we both sat in my barn and drank until we passed out. He didn’t even question how I could do that to Kallie. He didn’t ask me anything; he just drank with me. When I went to Kallie the next day and begged to see her, he had my back. When I sat in front of her house for three days straight watching for her, he was right next to me. He was also there the day I became a father. He has been a better brother to me than my actual brother.
“What do you mean when you say Kallie is back?” he mumbles and looks around to make sure he didn’t say it too loud. The thing is, the gossip mill spreads faster than the speed of lightning in a small town.
“Pretty much exactly that. Kallie is back,” I say.
“To stay?” He asks the question that has run through my mind over and over again. Not that I care because I couldn’t care less. But I’m sure it’s easier to hate her when she isn’t in front of my face every single day.
“No fucking clue. Casey called me today, but I told him to fuck off.” I swallow. “Then she stops in front of the station.”
“Wow,” he says, running his hands through his hair. “This is insane. Kallie.”
“Yup.” That’s the last thing I say before Ethan jogs onto the field, and the football game starts. The whole time, my head is spinning.
“You need me to come over?” Beau asks when the game finishes, and he high-fives Ethan when he comes out with a popsicle.
“No,” I say, “I’m putting him to bed, and then I’m crashing. I’ve been on duty for the past four days.”
“Well,” he says, stopping next to his brand-new BMW. “Let me know if you change your mind.”
“Will do,” I say, opening the truck door and buckling Ethan in. I make it home and get him in the shower when my phone rings again, and I see it’s my mother.
“Please tell me it isn’t true,” my mother hisses as soon as I answer the phone. My mother has been a rock, my rock. She is the one who held my hand when I told my father that Savannah was pregnant. She never judged me or asked me how I could have done this to Kallie. She refused to let the town win when they basically shunned me for cheating on Kallie.
“Hey, Mom,” I say, going to the fridge and grabbing a beer. I twist the cap off and take a long pull.
“I can’t even believe she is showing her face after all this time.” She slams something. “After everything that you’ve been through.”