“Just give her some time, I’m sure she will realize what a catch she is passing up. You are a very eligible bachelor, Walker. Any woman would be lucky to have you.”
“it's not just any woman I want, though. I want Stacy, the mother of my child, and the woman I love.” I said.
“Please stop being so dramatic, Walker. You’ve made it clear how you feel about her, but I worry she might just be pulling the wood over your eyes. You don’t want to end up tied down to someone just because you share a child, do you?”
“If that woman is Stacy, then yes. She would never tie me down. Just the opposite, with her, I feel like I could really live my life.”
“You can live a perfectly happy life right here in Texas with your occasional trips around the globe. Now, I was just in the middle of setting up dinner. If you are done, I’d like to finish this.”
“Fine, mother, but this isn’t over. I don’t know how things are going to play out, but you better believe I’m going to make things right with Stacy, even if it means I’m leaving with her.”
She gasped. “Walker!”
Before she could get in another word, edgewise, I ended the call. I knew my threat would rattle her, yet I didn’t even know if it was hollow or not. I’d never thought about leaving the family business before. Still, now the prospect of traveling around the country in an old truck with Stacy and Harrison by my side seemed incredibly alluring.
My phone vibrated, my mother’s name appearing again. I held down the power button and watched as the screen faded to black. Stacy wasn’t going to call me; she’d probably never speak to me again. Knowing she wouldn’t be reaching out was enough to send me over the edge. No one else mattered except her and my son, yet they were being pushed further and further away.
It was three hours later and damn near a bottle and case later when a familiar ruble shook the porch of my house. My stomach rolled but not from the alcohol. Next to my mother, my kid brother was the last person I wanted to see. I’d been quite content in drinking away my sorrows on my own. His presence would just piss me off more.
“You really shouldn’t do shit like that,” Thompson grumbled. “I was enjoying a night with a few lady friends, but now I’m stuck here, babysitting your drunk ass.”
“I’m not drunk, and even if I was, I sure as shit wouldn’t need a babysitter. I can hold more beer than ten of you scrawny little kids.”
“Those are pretty tall words for a man who just tried to tip his housekeeper in hay bales.”
“Hey! She’s got a couple horses, seemed more practical than cash.”
“Except you don’t have to tip her each time she pours us a drink. You get that you pay her a handsome salary, right?”
I chuckled, my head swimming with whisky and beer. The night seemed to be dragging on. All I wanted to do was pass out in my bed and forget the day had ever happened. Still, Thompson refused to leave without my word that I wasn’t abandoning the family. In my enraged state, I wasn’t sure that was something I could offer him.
Thompson groaned. “Awe man, don’t go saying things like that! You know she’s gonna give me the third degree when I talk to her.”
“You tell that woman whatever you want, I’m just about done with her and this whole damn family.”
“You don’t mean that,” Thompson whispered.
I glared at him as silence filled the air. I’d reached the end of my rope, and nothing good could come from talking while drunk. With a heavy heart, I pulled myself up from the wicker porch chair and stumbled to my bedroom, grateful for the blackness that was coming.
***
“Your mother told me about what happened, I’m so sorry, Walker. I never should have left that message. I didn’t think anyone else would hear it.”
I sighed. My head was throbbing—the static over the phone driving into my temples like little daggers.
“It wasn’t your fault. I don’t hold you accountable. You were just following orders. Listen, I want you to drop everything you’ve got going on, Stacy and Harrison. I don’t want to hear or see their names on a single document. I don’t give two shits what my mother told you to do.”