His reaction was warranted. There was no love lost between the Comforts and the Abernathys.
“Yeah, I guess he and my mom had a fling back in the day. But it turned out he’s not my father. So that left me back at square one. But we got another lead. Apparently, the night that my mom died, she wasn’t in the car alone. She was with Wayne Lemont. But the first responder on the scene was his uncle—”
“Sheriff Lemont.” Cash spoke over me, obviously familiar with the man.
“Right, Sheriff Lemont, and he didn’t want the publicity of his nephew driving the car of a pregnant, married woman because he was up for reelection.”
“Wait. Your mom was pregnant?”
“Billy never told you any of this?” I asked.
He just stared at me and I got my answer. I wondered why my brother hadn’t. Billy always said that Cash was like a brother to him.
“Yes, she was pregnant with Wayne’s baby.”
“And you think Wayne Lemont is your father?”
“Maybe? I don’t know. But I do know that I’m going to find out. And if he’s not I’m going to find out who is.” The Dawson’s Creek theme song was playing while I packed, and the first line kept repeating in my head. Because I didn’t want to wait for my life to be over, and I did want to know right now, what will it be?
“Does Wayne know that you’re coming?”
This time it was my turn not to respond and let my silence speak for itself. Or not. I didn’t really care. I was going and not even Cash was going to stop me.
“You’re going to see Wayne Lemont and he doesn’t know you’re coming.”
Now I crossed my arms, and it was definitely a defensive stance.
“Don’t you think you should call him first?”
I took a deep breath. “I need to see him face to face.”
His eyes bore into mine for several seconds and I felt like we were having a staring contest. I wasn’t going to blink first. Finally, after my eyes began watering his lids closed and opened again. “I’m coming with you.”
“What?” I had to be hearing him wrong. “We haven’t even talked in two weeks. And now you show up at my door and say that you’re coming with me to go meet my possible father.”
He reached down for my bag, but I stepped in front of it to block his access.
“Cheyenne,” his deep voice rasped my name.
I tried not to be distracted by how much I’d missed hearing Cash say my name. Or how badly I’d ached just to look into the sea of his blue eyes that were deeper than the Atlantic. Or how much I’d craved just being in his presence.
“Wasn’t it you that said we’d have fun on a road trip?” Cash used my own words against me.
About six months ago, a group of guys came into the bar that were going on a cross country road trip. I’d asked him if he’d ever been on a road trip. He told me he hadn’t, and I’d mentioned, casually of course, that I thought we’d have fun on a road trip. But that was just my lame way of flirting with him which was basically throwing noodles against the wall and praying one stuck.
Which they hadn’t. Until today.
This sure as heck wasn’t the way I’d envisioned our epic adventure beginning, but I wasn’t one to look a gift horse in the mouth. Especially when the mouth attached to that gift horse happened to be Cash’s.