y’all just yelled at him. Reamed him. Practically called him a shitty uncle, and then threw the fact that he wasn’t Asa’s father in his face. But, just sayin’, me and Bourne have done our parts in raising that kid. He may not be our flesh and blood son, but we love him like he’s our own. He is our nephew. And you can’t throw it in our faces that he’s not actually ours when it suits you.”
Dillan was pissed now, too. I could tell.
And the words I’d said to Bourne not too long ago came back and burned as I thought about what I’d said.
“Trust me,” Dillan said. “It’s more than obvious that he’s not ours. We know it. Everyone in town knows it. It fucking burns. Y’all will never know how it feels, either. You won’t know how it feels to have the person that you love having a child with someone else. But Bourne and me, specifically me? We know how it feels.”
With that, Dillan picked up her bag and left.
I sat down and pressed my hands against my face.
“I was fucking scared,” I sniffled.
Booth sighed. “I was, too.”
That wasn’t a good enough reason, either.
“I didn’t handle that well,” I admitted.
“No, we didn’t,” he agreed.
“You didn’t say anything bad,” I pointed out.
“No.” He paused. “But I sure didn’t speak up, either. And that speaks louder than words when it comes to my brother.”
I scrubbed at my eyes, the feeling of a migraine coming on fast.
“I asked him to put his dream on pause.”
I looked over at Booth in confusion.
“What?” I said.
“I asked him not to enlist,” he said. “After he hurt his foot. I asked him to stay here. To always be here for you if you needed it. And then I stayed where I was and lived my dream, while my brother did the stuff that I should’ve done.”
I thought about how, no matter what, Bourne was always there.
Every single time I’d needed him, he’d come.
Every single time there was a bump in the road or a problem I couldn’t solve alone, Bourne was not far behind me, willing to always offer me a helping hand.
For instance, when my father decided that he was going to meddle in my life again. He’d moved me out of my house. He’d moved me into his. He’d given me a place to stay.
And how had I repaid him?
I’d told him that he wasn’t Asa’s father. That he couldn’t make those decisions without me. I told him he couldn’t pick Asa up anymore. Which then caused him to get pissed and leave his own freakin’ house!
I’d fucked up.
I knew it as soon as the words were out of my mouth. But then Dillan and Booth had rubbed that fact in.
“Shoot,” I said, pinching the bridge of my nose. “I was terrified, Booth.”
“I was, too,” Booth repeated again as he patted my shoulder awkwardly.
“I need to call him,” I murmured softly.
Except, before I could, the police arrived.
An hour after that, I was still calling people and assuring that all was well.
What I didn’t do was call Bourne.
Not until well into the night after I’d calmed down enough to get my shit together.
Only, he didn’t answer.
Not once.
***
The next day, I was nervous as hell for dinner.
Family dinner at the Pena household was an affair.
Everyone would always meet at Georgia and Nico’s house.
Everyone showed.
Booth and Dillan. Asa and me. Priscilla, Bell, Heath and even Daniella, if she was available.
Who did not show was Bourne.
Not until well into dinner.
“Where’s Bourne?” Booth asked as he walked into his mother’s house with Dillan in tow.
Dillan who still wouldn’t look me in the eye.
She wasn’t holding onto Booth, either, so I could tell that there was something still wrong with them as well.
Hell.
“Not here yet,” Daniella murmured, her eyes going from me to Booth and back. “One would think y’all would know seeing as one of you lives with him, and the other of you lives next to him.”
Daniella had arrived here all smiles and giggles, happy that she’d gotten off bedrest. She’d been spewing sunshine and butterflies ever since.
She was annoying the hell out of me with her good mood.
I gritted my teeth.
“We pissed him off yesterday,” Booth murmured softly. “Said some things in the heat of the moment, and he left.”
Georgia sighed.
“What did you say?” Nico asked, arms crossing over his chest.
Neither Booth nor I said a word.
Dillan, however, didn’t have the same problem.
And neither, it turns out, did Asa.
Asa let it all hang out,