Inside Out - Lauren Dane [112]
“After the last time, Erin made us put bags in the trunk just in case. We’re good.” Ben leaned down to kiss her cheek. “Thank you for that thing with my dad. I expect I’ll be hearing all the details soon enough. For now, know that we all love you, okay? Erin says to tell you she’ll be cupcake-ready in a few weeks.”
“Tell her there’s a red velvet with her name on it, when she’s ready.”
She hugged everyone one last time and headed out.
“Dad, what is your deal? Why did you come here if nothing has changed?”
Cope had wanted to run after Ella to check on her, to make sure she was all right, but damn it, his father needed dealing with too, and she’d gotten them more than halfway in a way he’d never expected.
It was hot, even as he was annoyed she’d hare off and challenge his father in a hospital parking lot like she was more than a bitty woman with more love in her heart than could be measured.
That she understood and accepted him, knew him better than the man he stood facing right then, was no small irony and no small amount of pain to admit. He’d spent all his life hoping his father would pay attention. All his life being measured against Ben and trying to do that, but failing because he wasn’t Ben. And damn it, why it took him thirty-six years to discover that it wasn’t supposed to be that way, he didn’t know. To understand that he didn’t have to be, because he was Andrew.
Ella knew that.
“I told you I came because your mother was upset. I promised to behave. It was your girlfriend who caused this mess. For fuck’s sake, boy, you traffic with whores for years, and now you get this one hanging on you. Your mother says she had some violence in her past. Why do you and your brother sniff after damaged goods?”
He lunged forward, pinning his father to the wall just to the left of the elevator bank. “You shut your mouth about her and about Erin too. You don’t know shit about it.”
“Get off, or I’ll knock you on your ass.”
Cope snorted, stepping back. “You’re full of it, old man. I’ve given you a pass because I love you. I will always love you because you’re my father. But that man, the man who taught me how to carve, how to fit a joist, the guy who was there to take a picture the first time I hooked a trout, that man is not here today. You’re half a man who’s become obsessed over stuff that’s just not his business. So you don’t like it that Ben is in love with people you don’t approve of. BFD. And? Do you run all your decisions past us? He’s nearly forty with a baby on the way. He knows what he’s doing. He’s got a successful business, and I hate that you can’t see how much he’s loved.”
“He’s a deviant! Can’t just be gay, oh no. He has to have two partners, or spouses, or whatever the hell you kids call it nowadays. Can’t brag on the baby on the way because Dean already does. What am I supposed to say to that?”
Cope sighed heavily. “This isn’t about you. Until you realize that, you’re not welcome in my life or in Ben’s. He only tolerated you here today because you promised to behave. And then lied. Far as I can see, he hasn’t lied. He’s trying to live his life as honestly as he can, given the unusual circumstances. But you? You’re a piece of work. Just because you’re my father and I love you does not mean I have to have you in my life.”
He hit the elevator button. “I’m done with you. If you come back up, I’ll call security. I’m not going to allow you to harm anyone else I love, and that includes Ella.”
24
Ben was waiting for him when he got off the elevator.
“You all right? Do I need to send a nurse down there?”
Cope heaved a heavy sigh. “I don’t know that this is ever going to be all right, Ben. I’m sorry.”
His brother smiled at him and led him back into the adjacent waiting room. “Dude, is that what you think you need to do? Fix this?”
“He can’t go on like this, ripping at you and Erin. We can’t just not say anything.”
“What about you? He rip at you? He tried to hit you, Andy. Just leave it be.