Chapter Twenty
PETE CALLED JENNA on the way to the hardware store. She offered to join them a hundred times, but Pete felt it was best if she didn’t. He was worried enough about how his father was going to react to Sky being there, much less someone outside of their immediate family. Although to Pete, Jenna was already part of his family. If all went well, he’d call Jenna after they took his father to rehab. If it didn’t, he’d call her when they were done trying. He hoped for the first outcome.
The bell above the door rang out when Pete and Sky walked into the hardware store. Pete locked the door and hung the CLOSED sign in the window. Sky had been quiet on the ride over, but before she got out of Pete’s truck, she’d reached for his hand and said, I know I scared the heck out of you after Mom died, but I’m okay, Pete. I promise. Thank you for letting me come with you to talk to Dad. I want to help. He looked at her now, standing strong and tall before him, waiting for him before walking to the back where their father was. He’d protected her for so long that having her here in the pit of the mess with him sent a stroke of guilt slicing through him. He forced himself to see her as the woman she was, rather than the scared girl she’d been when their mother died.
He draped an arm over her shoulder. “Let’s do this.”
Their father turned as they neared the counter in the back of the shop. “Now, this is a pleasure. Seeing Sky twice in one day? Pete usually whisks you away and I don’t see you until the next day.”
“Hi, Dad.” The strength in Sky’s voice surprised Pete.
“Hey, Pop. How was your day?” Pete came around the counter and embraced his father. He inhaled out of habit, and when he didn’t smell alcohol, he had a fleeting thought that maybe he was overreacting. Then his mind traveled to the image of his father passed out in his mother’s sewing room.
“Fine, fine. Can’t complain. Did you guys come by to go to dinner?” He set his hands on his hips and smiled at Sky.
“Actually, Pop, we came to talk to you.” Pete tried to sound lighthearted, as if he were talking about the weather, boats, anything other than the issue that clawed at his nerves, but he heard the seriousness of his own voice and knew he’d have no chance of masking a single thing during this conversation.
“There’s that tone again.” His father walked past him toward the front of the store. “I’ve got to close up the shop.”
“We already did,” Sky said. She reached for his hand as Pete had reached for hers.
“Pop, there’s no easy way to say this, so I’m just going to lay it out there.” Pete ran his hand through his hair, buying time as his father grumbled under his breath. “Last night was the last time, Pop. I’m done.”
“Done with what?” His father smiled nervously at Sky, as if he had no idea what Pete was talking about.
Pete saw the glimmer of worry in his eyes and shot a look at Sky, whose gaze softened. Was she buying into this charade? In an effort to make this as painless as possible for all of them, he avoided defining the elephant in the room.
“You don’t need me to spell it out. You know too well what we’re talking about. I’ve spoken to Tatum Rehab, and I’ve arranged for a three-to-five-week program—”
“This baloney again, Peter?” His father shook his head, then shot a look at Sky. “Your brother needs someone to save.”
Sky’s eyes darted between the two men.
“No, Pop. That’s where you’re wrong. I’m done saving you. It’s time you saved yourself.” Pete stepped closer to his father, and the years rolled back, playing in his mind like a movie. Tossing baseballs in the backyard, learning to sail on the bay, his father holding him too tightly the day he went off to college, and holding him just as tightly the day he graduated.
Pete drew in a breath and gathered his determination like armor. “I love you, Pop. I want you to be around for a lot of years.”
“Listen to you.” He laughed under his breath, then pointed his thumb at Pete and spoke to Sky. “Do you believe this guy? Do you have any idea what he’s talking about?”
Pete watched uncertainty float across his sister’s face. He held her gaze, hoping she had enough faith in him to trust what he’d told her.
“I do, Daddy.” Her voice was thin and shaky.
His father’s face aged ten years with her words. His jowls sagged, and his eyelids drooped heavily. “Sky?”
She stepped forward. “I know, Dad. I know about your drinking.” Her eyes watered, and again Pete fought the urge to go to her, to put an arm around her and let her know he was right there with her. He didn’t want this to be her fight, and he hated seeing her take it on—but it was, really. It was their whole family’s battle.
“Sky.” Their father reached for her.
She allowed him to take her hand, and she held it in silence for a beat. “I don’t want you to die, Dad.” A tear slipped down her cheek. “With Mom gone, you’re all I have left.”
He opened his mouth to respond, but no words came.
Pete’s chest constricted as he closed the gap between them. “We all love you, Pop. This ends now. No more burying your grief in alcohol. No more looking for Mom to come back.” He glanced at his sister and saw fresh tears fill her eyes. “It’s a month of your time, and it’ll save your life—and ours.”
His father grumbled something under his breath again.
“Daddy, please? Please get help?” Sky’s plea sounded like she was a little girl again, scared and fragile.
Pete couldn’t help placing his hand on her lower back to comfort her, allowing her to soak in his strength while hers faltered.
“I have the shop to mind,” his father said gruffly.
“I’ll run it while you’re in rehab,” Pete assured him.
“I’ll run it,” Sky said. “Pete has his own business to run.”
Pete shot her a questioning look.
“It makes sense. I go from job to job, and you have clients who rely on you. I can do it, Peter. Have as much faith in me as I have in you.”
How could he say no to that? “We’ve got it covered, Pop. What do you say? There’s no more hiding. It’s this way, or you’re on your own, because I’m done enabling this double life you’re living. I’ve let this go on for two years too long, and I love you too much to let it go on any longer.”
His father huffed a breath. “I don’t need rehab. So I have a few drinks every night. Big deal.”
Pete shrugged and stalked toward the front of the store.
“Peter? Where are you going?” Sky’s voice was rattled and high-pitched.
“I’m done. If he wants to kill himself, so be it. I have a life to start living.” Pete heard Sky’s footsteps hurrying toward him.
“You’re just going to leave?” She grabbed his shirt. “You can’t just let him keep doing this. You said he could die.”
He turned and locked eyes with his sister’s terrified gaze and said the hardest thing he’d ever had to say.
“Yes, he could die, and at this point that’s his choice. I’m not going to be part of it. This is his choice, Sky, and if he chooses to keep drinking, then I’m out of his life from here on out. He’s on his own.” He glanced over her shoulder at their father. His head was buried in his hands, his red ears and jowls visible through his fingers. Pete was finally getting through to him. He hated playing hardball without first warning Sky, but he had no choice.
“Darn it, Peter.” His father’s voice boomed through the shop, loud and tremulous. “Don’t you walk out on me.”
Pete held his hands up in surrender. “I’m done, Pop. We lost Mom to something she had no control over. I won’t watch you willingly kill yourself.”
“Peter.” Sky’s eyes darted from Pete to their father, then back again.
“You’re an insufferable stubborn mule, you know that? You got that from your mother.” Neil stomped up the aisle to where Pete stood and pointed at his face. “If one single person finds out that I’m in rehab, I’ll have your hide.”
Pete bit back tears that fought to come. “I’ve already spoken to the counselor about anonymity, and as far as Sky and I know, you’re visiting your cousin in Miami while his wife recovers from surgery.” He made that up on the spot, but it sounded plausible.
“Don’t expect me to thank you for turning your sister against me.” His father narrowed his eyes. “Jackass.”
Music to Pete’s ears.