Page 43 of Just a Plot Twist (Tate Brothers #7)

Benson

Aunt Stella is aghast. “Cinnamon is gone?”

I nod, tasting ash. “They came and got her yesterday. I took the afternoon off so Dax and Indie could say goodbye.”

We’re having another family party. The Tates find every excuse in the book to party, and this time, it’s a final get together before Milo, Rose, and their son, Callum, finish their vacation and return to North Carolina.

Stella, Thomas’s older sister, shakes her head, her brow knitted together. She’s the one who took care of my brothers in the summers throughout their growing up years. “Oh no. How did they take it?”

“They want me to buy them out.” I suppress a little laugh at the terminology they used. How do they even know the phrase, buy them out ? “I told them it doesn’t work like that.” I pause, remembering their palpable grief. “They’re sad. Indie even wrote a card. ”

Stella gives a sad smile. “She did?”

I nod. “A card for Cinnamon. She made me promise I’d give it to Reggie’s grandson and ask them to read it to her every night.”

“And what did he say to that?”

“He was nice enough about it, but let’s be real, he probably won’t do it.” I manage a small smile.

I’ll never, in all my remaining days, forget my daughter’s face, her red-rimmed eyes, her pleading voice as she said Daddy, it hurts too much to say goodbye.

“I know,” I told her and when we hugged, she finally melted into me, pressing her weight on my shoulders so I could help hold her up.

What if she and Dax have to go through this with Claire? It hurts too much to say goodbye.

Yeah, tell me about it.

As much as I love Claire, and I do, I don’t want to run the risk of losing her and watching, helpless, as my kids cope with yet another loss. Because it’s not just me who lost my parents. They lost them, too.

And then here it is again, that flash of anger when I can’t make things right for my kids.

I felt it during the divorce and now, remembering how Cinnamon was led away by a rando and his wife, I feel it again. The couple are in their mid-twenties, so are they able to take care of a dog like Cinnamon? And they’re not randos, I guess.

I tried to tell them…to be honest about the amount of work involved. I showed them all her medications and how she has to be lifted onto the side of the tub to get a drink of water .

Like a spoiled princess who refuses to drink out of any cup that’s not her favorite, special one.

It was like I was trying to convince them not to take her. And they seemed nice, but nervous about the responsibility.

The one consolation? Cinnamon acted fine to go with them. She probably remembered them from before. She didn’t look back at me once. Which, I gotta say, hurt a little because I stared at her hard, the echoes of the kids’ crying still ringing in my ears.

Yes, Dax cried, too, but he wasn’t as vocal as Indie.

Cinnamon made an impact on us. Even I can admit that. I’m not exactly okay.

It’s a little bit about Cinnamon and a lot about Claire. What am I going to do? Because I think of her constantly. We’re in an odd spot, so she didn’t get to say goodbye to Cinnamon. I tried calling her, but I didn’t try again when the call when to voicemail for a second time.

I convinced myself it was easier this way.

Which means Claire doesn’t even know she’s gone, and that feels wrong.

The family party is loud. Alec and Oakley picked the first batch of wild raspberries of the season and bought a small basketful for us to snack on.

There’s also homemade vanilla ice cream curing on the back patio of the resort.

Later, we’ll go on a powerboat ride with my father and his sons.

Probably because there’s not quite enough room for all of us, the wives, babies, and Celine will stay on the beach with Stella while we go out.

But first, the family football game.

Something about watching Alec’s players’ game the other night lit a fire in us and now we’re shouting like maniacs and forming makeshift teams and everyone’s sucking wind.

Except maybe Milo and Alec. I’m not young anymore, but at least I can run circles around Thomas, who has the form and technique of an expert player, but who, it’s obvious, is in his sixties and has lived a life full of stress.

“Take it easy on the old man,” Alec insists, when Oakley does a spin move to juke out Thomas before reaching the five-yard line. That’s when Thomas finally snags her flag.

“Hey, I got her flag,” Thomas balks.

“Yeah, but she almost scored,” Milo says, clapping his hands together in a move of frustration, as if to say, get your head in the game to himself more than anyone else. I like that my brothers and father take these pickup games so seriously because it gives me permission to care about it, too.

And I really do.

The offense sets up their line without warning and I watch as Stella takes a pitch from Oakley and easily crosses the end zone. The rest of their team, a mix of men and women, cheer loudly. Gabriel picks up a pregnant River and spins her around in celebration.

Yes, even the pregnant women are out for blood in this game.

But all this gives me a lump in my throat—this sight of them so happy together. A twinge of sadness hits and stays even after Oliver hands me a bowl of homemade ice cream. It’s sweet and smooth, very good. But I miss Claire.

Would she have liked being part of the game? It’s incomplete without her here. I’m the most comfortable in my own skin when I’m with her. She belongs here and she brings out everything in me that I want to be.

We belong together .

And I ache to tell her that .

I don’t know why I didn’t invite her, except every time I considered it, I froze up. I just…didn’t do it. We played phone tag like two cautious cats, unsure of what the other wants, reading into every delay…into every missed call.

I’m on autopilot, doing anything and everything that’s easy, so I don’t have to run the risk with the hard right now.

After ice cream, Thomas clears his throat. “Let’s go out on the lake, boys.”

I’m tempted to tell Thomas I can’t. I can say that I have to go home, right? No harm done there. I can say goodbye to Milo and Rose now.

But the heavy buzz churning through Thomas’s psyche compels me to stay. And the nerves among us tell me I’m not the only one who’s dreading this father-son outing.

Sebastian shakes his head. “I’ll stay back with Elianna. She’s been extra tired all day.”

“No way, Sebastian,” Elianna warns before taking another bite of ice cream. “I’m fine. You go on ahead.” She stares at him like You can do this.

“I’m not going to take up too much of your time,” Thomas says curtly.

We slowly embark, and I think all of us are a little alarmed at his sudden soberness because there is no talking as Thomas deftly maneuvers the powerboat out onto the water.

It doesn’t take long to reach the middle of the lake, where Thomas kills the engine.

He stands at the bow, his arms folded over his chest, his mouth a straight, mournful line.

“I’ll cut right to the chase,” Thomas says hoarsely.

I glance around at my brothers, all seated, and they’re all mirroring each other, shoulders slumped, arms resting on their knees or across their middles. None of them meets his eye .

“I wanted to do this before Milo left, so naturally, I’ve waited until the last possible moment.” He gives a humorless laugh, and a couple of the guys give a little smile.

He could be trying to say anything, but from the look on his face, it’s nothing good. Does he have bad news? Is he sick? Is Celine sick again?

“Something happened a long time ago, and I imagine there have been some questions in your minds over the years, so I wanted to explain it now.” He clears his throat and tugs on the collar of his polo.

“Back before Sebastian started the resort company, I was sued for misconduct by a female employee of Foundations.”

Shock courses through me. I glance around. No one else seems surprised by this. They must already know some of it. I was the only one not around back then.

Thomas is looking down at his shoes. “She sued me because of the emotional distress I caused her in the workplace.” He raises his head and looks us in the eyes.

“First of all, to set the record straight, it wasn’t sexual in nature in any way, shape, or form, and when she sued, I paid the woman everything she asked for because she was right.

I was calloused with her. Rude. Far more demanding than I should have been.

Because she was a subordinate, she was an easy target and, in my stupidity and to my horror as I think back on it now, I took my frustrations out on her. I belittled her, sometimes in public.”

Thomas clears his throat and takes in a deep breath.

He lets it out. Then blinks rapidly. “It was wrong. I’ve made an effort ever since then to be a better employer, but I fall short of what I want to be much of the time.

I wish I could say I learned my lesson, that I made a complete one-eighty.

” He pauses to give a tortured smile. “But I didn’t.

” His bottom jaw slides back and forth, the tension practically vibrating off him.

“What could have been a wakeup call wasn’t.

Sure, I didn’t treat my employees like garbage anymore, but I still wasn’t a good boss.

I still worked far too much and placed too many impossible expectations on myself, my company, and my family. ”

He scrubs his face and then rests his hands on his hips, shifting in his stance, which causes the boat to rock slightly.

A white index card is folded in his palm. He glances at it. Does he have notes of what he wants to say?

I don’t know why, but knowing this, imagining him like a nervous kid inside a hardened, older man’s body, does something to me.

Aren’t we all nervous kids inside? I am Thomas Tate. Not in all ways, and honestly, I’m grateful for that.

But, like him, I’m also trying to make up for my mistakes. Aren’t I trying to change, too? Haven’t I done things I needed to ask forgiveness for?

There’s something in his eyes that reminds me of Dax and Indie and with that, my eyes sting. My pulse pumps along a vessel in my throat, throbbing under the heat of the sun.

He squeezes the back of his neck and continues. “The worst part of it was how hard my behaviors were on your mother. My bad attitude, my thoughtless comments, my absence in her life and in your lives? It was a terrible mistake that caused some real hardships on all of you.”

His voice raw, he meets our gazes. I flick mine around the boat—all of us are looking at him now. We’re stone-faced, but maybe beginning to consider letting the light in, too.

“I could have so easily lost your mother,” he continues.

“I wouldn’t have blamed her for walking away.

Sadly, I didn’t wake up until shortly after Oliver and Sophie’s wedding, when your mother wound up in the hospital with internal bleeding.

I blame myself.” His voice is barely above a whisper.

“It was how I’d treated the woman I was supposed to love and cherish above all else that caused her to become so sick. ”

Gabriel sighs. “We don’t know that you caused it, Dad.”

Thomas squeezes his eyes shut a moment before flashing a look in Gabriel’s direction. It holds a mix of anguish and appreciation for the comment.

He fights for composure. “It took almost losing her for me to realize I can go about my life in a completely different way.” He pinches the top of his nose.

“Sons, I want to apologize. Saying I’m sorry isn’t enough.

But I am sorry for the grief and pain I put you through.

” His expression hardens and he looks out over the water, the wind stirring the top of his greying hair.

“I’m not asking for forgiveness. That’s too big of an ask.

But I want you to know of my great remorse.

Please. Give me a chance to make it up to you?

” He shoots out a breath, shaking as he pockets the card and wipes the back of his hand across his mouth.

“Please, boys. Don’t do what I’ve done. Don’t live a life full of regrets.

Fix things. Do what needs to be done now .

Treat the women and children in your lives like the precious people they are. ”

We’re silent, the only sound the cawing of seagulls in the sky above us.

Except for the first few, rocky months of our relationship, Thomas has been decent to me. I’m sure my brothers have a lot more to say about this than I do.

Still, I’m more connected with every man on this boat now .

I’m glad my father spoke to us like this because it was the right thing to do.

Who knows how the others will respond? For my part, I’m going to give him a hug as soon as we’re off the boat.

His apology doesn’t erase the past…and my brothers suffered far more than I have. But I can give the guy a hug.

And then? I have to get to Claire.

And I can’t mess up what I need to say to her.