26. Chapter 26

"Ibrought pie," I announced. Posie told me once that she despised cake after being forced to make them and taste-test for her mom for years. I thought we could put the candles in the pie instead.

When I looked up, everyone was staring at me. "What?"

Mom had tears in her eyes, Dad looked angry and so did Pops. Evan's ears flamed red, and he wouldn't meet my eyes. "What the hell is going on?"

"Sorry," Pops finally called to me. "You can put the pie away, Max. Posie won't be around tonight after all."

"Why the hell not?" The whole reason I'd come home this weekend was to see her and celebrate her birthday. It was also the reason I hadn't brought my son. I didn't think she should have to meet him and have the baby steal all the attention away from her on her special day. Not that I thought she'd ever complain, but at the same time, I knew it would make her feel uncomfortable, even if she never bothered to show it in front of anyone.

"It's my fault," Evan said as he finally looked up.

"How is it your fault that Posie isn't here?"

He sighed and his shoulders slumped on the exhale. "I didn't take her seriously when she complained about Jen before. Looking back, I know that I should have. Posie is never one to complain about anything, and the fact that she mentioned Jen making her uncomfortable should have raised blaringly loud alarms for me."

"Sometimes, we miss things," our mom offered her baby.

"Well, anyway, she said after last night, she wasn't up to doing the birthday thing anymore and asked that we respect her stance on that."

"Wait, so she's just not going to celebrate her birthday at all?" That wasn't happening on my watch. I'd screwed up far too many things to see her birthday completely ruined.

"Seems you could have brought my grandson around after all," Mom told me.

"I'm going to Posie's place to talk to her," I said.

"She ain't there."

I turned back to see Pops staring at his feet. He wouldn't say anything else though and when I glanced around at the faces of my family, I knew they were holding something back.

"Tell me." It was a demand and one that they wouldn't be able to deny because I was tired of these walls that kept going up to keep me from the woman I'd fallen in love with.

"She's on a date." Evan was the one who relented. "That's my fault too. I kept pushing her to move on because I didn't think you would ever be free and honestly, I thought if you really wanted her, you would have made it happen before now. You never bothered to come see her. Not once, did you ever try to come see her in person, even after you knew she tried to go to you. So, I told her to move on."

"We all told her to move on," My dad interjected, unwilling to leave his youngest out to dry.

"Then I guess Jen finally got a match right. Too late for her, because I dumped her ass last night, but her friend's brother…"

"The guy who took her home last night?" There was a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach as he nodded his head. Fuck. She couldn't be on a date. Not now. I was so close to being able to come back home, to making things right. If she could handle the fact that I had a kid now…

I slumped down, unable to stand on my own two feet any longer. Last night had been a kick in the dick, and now, I realized Michael was right. I'd fucked it all up again when Jen told me that Posie had a boyfriend attending. I'd walked in with my son's mom on my arm while she wore that ridiculous fucking ring on her finger because she'd been a convenient shield for me. I didn't think about what it would feel like for Posie.

Instead of letting my jealousy fuck with my head, I should have just laid everything out for her like I meant to. Boyfriend, date, or not. I should have told her how I felt and how I was working on getting back home, so I could be with her.

I handed the pie off to one of my brothers. I'd even had the woman at the bakery write Happy Birthday, Posie on the top. "See she gets that," I told whoever grabbed it.

"Son," my dad called out, but I didn't stop. I left his house and made my way to my old truck. Then I drove to Pops' place and tucked my truck up beside the barn, so no one could see it from the road that headed back out of town. I felt a little like a stalker, but there were things I needed to see with my own eyes before I left town. If she was happy, she wouldn't get another letter from me. I'd give up my quest to get back home and try to make things work somewhere else.

One thing my entire family was right about was that I'd missed my window and fucked everything up for that girl. I didn't want to continue to be the undeserving man she put her life on hold for. It would kill me to see her move on with someone else, but no less than me having a baby with another woman hurt her.

It was nearly midnight when headlights finally lit up the road heading toward Pops' place. When his Dodge Charger pulled up, I wanted to roll my eyes because of course the asshole who was about to steal my girl drove a douchey muscle car. He helped her out of the car and it stung when I watched the way her eyes lit up as he tugged her just hard enough that she flipped right into his arms. It was a flawless gesture that made a huge impact. I knew that because her face transformed into that of an angel sent to Earth to bring all its inhabitants joy.

Yep, I was a dipshit for even thinking like that, but there was no other explanation for the way her happiness shone through. Then, the asshole's lips were on hers as she stood on tiptoes with her arms wrapped around his neck.

The picture my brother sent me of the memory Posie drew of the kiss between Cheyenne and me in the barn came to mind. I wondered if the sinking feeling in my stomach, the stench of defeat, and the immense pain of loss that felt like it might squeeze my heart right out of my chest were all the things she was feeling back then.

Maybe she had felt them to a lesser degree at the time, since I'd only been a crush she had on a stranger. When she drew that image, after finding out that I might be getting married, I imagine she felt a lot like I do now. That meant hearing about my son had to be torture, and somehow I could no longer blame her for not reading the emails I'd been sending.

Posie was going to move on, and I'd been the idiot who pushed her in that direction with my jealous bullshit behavior. What was worse, was that I couldn't just drive away and leave because the minute I started my truck, they would know I'd been sitting here watching them. As luck would have it, a set of headlights hit them as a car came down the road. Pops was back. I glanced at the clock and realized how late he was and wondered what the old coot had been up to.

It didn't matter, because I could have thanked him for showing up when he did. As he pulled into the driveway, Posie and her date broke apart and she said something to him that I couldn't make out. He smiled at her before leaning in and kissing her forehead, then he got into his car and took off.

"Jack?" I heard her call out to Pops as he got out of his car.

"Sorry, didn't mean to interrupt, sweetheart. Earlene decided she needed her beauty rest more than we needed to finish our game." He winked at Posie.

"You should really make an honest woman out of her one day," Posie teased.

"Nah, we have an understanding."

"Isn't that what all the kids are saying these days?"

Pops stared back off toward where douche nozzle's taillights still glowed in the distance. "Is that what you're saying? I had my time with the love of my life, Posie. Don't want anything less for you."

Posie took a few steps over and then threw her shoulders back and held her head high as she approached Pops. "I know what I'm worth," she told him. "You taught me. Now, let's get you inside and ready for bed. I want to see that you're taking all of your vitamins. You should have taken them all hours ago."

From the sounds of things, Pops wasn't too fond of some of his vitamins. I'd have to ask Dad about what the hell was going on with him.

"Ain't no damn vitamins, and you know it, girl."

She shrugged as they moved up the steps to his porch. "You're my dad and I don't want to lose you anytime soon. So, you're going to go in there and take your heart medicine, you're going to eat the nasty healthy shit I feed you, and you're going to smile when I pretend the medicine you have to take is vitamins because it makes me feel better."

"Aw, Petal." He cooed to her. "Ain't gonna leave you anytime soon, I promise."

Once they were behind Pops' closed door, I finally started my truck and took off to head back home. I'd seen enough to know that Posie wasn't mine to claim right now. The universe seemed to align against us every single time we got close, and I had to have faith that it meant that we would still get our chance, it just wouldn't be right now.