“Hey, buddy.” Rob’s eyes went glassy. He rubbed the back of his neck, looking around. “I got you a bunch of presents. I know you threw most of them away, but I…I…I’m just glad your mamaw and papaw invited me here. Because I really want to get to know you. And, well, I can’t blame you for being hesitant, but…”
Tennessee’s shoulders slumped under my touch, and her face was overtaken by every emotion on the spectrum.
“Nice speech.” Bear shrugged it off. “But Mom beat you to it. Again. She already told me I have to see you. She said she won’t let me hang out with Cruz otherwise.”
Okay. That was not completely true. It also sounded terrible. It also made Tennessee and me sound like a couple.
An evil couple.
Rob nodded quickly. “Cruz’s fun to hang out with. We used to be best friends in high school. Would it be okay if I’m here tonight? I won’t sit next to you or anything. I just want to…watch.”
Silence rolled over the open barn. Everybody looked at Bear, waiting for an answer. The kid reddened, digging his sneaker deep into a patch of mud in the lawn and gnawing on his lip.
“That makes you sound like a creeper,” he said, finally, drawing chuckles from Tennessee and me.
“I promise I’m not a creeper,” Rob said.
“Mom said you got divorced twice.”
“That makes me hasty, and possibly a tool bag, but definitely not a creeper. What do you say?”
Bear lifted an eyebrow, glancing at Tennessee. She gave him a brief nod of confirmation.
“I say whatever, but you better not be telling Dad jokes. Too early for that.”
And that was that.
Robert was here, and we all needed to suck it up and play nice.
At the rehearsal dinner, I had to sit next to Wyatt and my parents and watch Tennessee from across the table. She was seated right next to Rob, an empty seat on the other side of her, where Gabriella should have been.
I had to weed out the conversation on my side of the table to be able to hear them, which wasn’t easy, seeing as Trinity and Wyatt were arguing under their breaths.
“…said you would at least try. If you’re not taking this marriage seriously, why do I even bother?”
“Feel free to stop being a bitch at any point, honey.”
“Maybe I should listen to Nessy and find someone who pays attention to me.”
“Yeah, she’s a great source of life advice.”
“Said the guy who married a tweaker. At least she made her mistake in her teens, not full adulthood.”
“She seems to be making new ones every day. With my brother, for instance.”
Meanwhile, things were looking better for Tennessee and Rob, which, frankly, made me want to shove my head into the nearest meat grinder and set the power on high.
“I’m sorry I didn’t give you a heads-up. Your mother called me not even two hours ago. I tried to call, but you didn’t answer.” Rob turned to catch my girlfriend’s expression, looking wary.
“That sounds like a classic Donna move,” she clipped. “Apology accepted. Now if we could move on, please. No need to converse with leftovers. Do you always talk to food before you throw it in the trash?”
“I was very drunk,” he explained by way of an apology.
“You were a gasshole.”
“I was. Vindictive and stupid and jealous and so depressingly aware of everything I’d lost over the years. It’s no excuse, but it’s a reason. And I’m sorry for that, too.”
“You should be sorry for existing,” Tennessee said with dignity.
“I mostly am. But who knows, maybe Bear will need an organ transplant at some point and I’ll make myself useful. Dream big.”
“My big dreams died the day you ran away and left me to fend for myself.”
“Have you been getting my checks?”
“Yes.” Tennessee tore a piece of sourdough bread, popping it into her mouth, but that same fury I saw in her the first time I’d dropped her off was gone. She was getting used to his presence in her sphere. “I got them.”
“You still say gasshole and holy sheep.” Rob smiled.
She rolled her eyes. “Put your efforts where they matter. With your son.”
“Why?” Rob studied her, his hand twitching. He wanted to swipe a lock of hair off of her face. I knew, because I wanted to do the same. “Am I too late? Are you Cruz’s now? When I asked around town, no one said they knew anything about you two.”
That could also explain how half the people in town knew about Tennessee and me. Between Gabriella and Rob tag-teaming it to “fact check”， their lack of graces covered all the social bases.