Sorry, God, terrible choice of word.” She face-palmed herself. “He’s alive and well. But it’s complicated. I don’t want to hijack the conversation.”
“You’re not. I gave you a two-for-one, right? Dad in prison, mom passing away, remember?”
“Right. Well, it’s a long story, but I was supposed to go back home to Idaho tomorrow, but I think I’m going to stick around in Vegas a bit longer. Right before I left to come here, I discovered my dad was cheating on my mom again.”
“Again.”
“Yeah. I accidentally caught him a couple years ago. And he’s doing it again. And last time, I had to be the one to tell my mom. I didn’t want to tell her this time, so I kind of peaced out and came here.”
“Can’t say I blame you. I wouldn’t want to be in the middle of that.”
“Yeah, well, me being away means my brother is in the middle of it, alone, but he doesn’t know what their fighting is about. He’s blowing up my phone, trying to get me to come back. But I don’t want to.”
“I’m sorry, Tori. That sounds … tough. It’s such a weak word for how it sounds.”
“It is tough. And James—my brother—is pissed at me for not wanting to come home to help him through it. I know it’s selfish, but I just want as much distance from my dad and my mom as I can get right now. I’m so, so angry with my dad. He didn’t cheat on me, but I feel the betrayal all the same.”
“Because he’s your hero,” I said. “He saved you from a situation that was over your head. You don’t want to believe that he can fuck up, but he has—more than once. I don’t blame you for feeling betrayed.”
“Yeah, well, when James finds out that I knew about the first time Dad cheated, he’s going to be even more pissed off with me.” She grimaced. “Not to change the subject, but please—let’s change the subject from my fucked-up family. Are you all out of tales of woe?”
“I’ve got one more,” I said, my voice somber. “It’s a real downer.”
“Hit me with it.”
“My best friend, Will, died. Last week.”
Whatever she’d been expecting from me, that wasn’t it.
13
“Your best friend died.” I don’t know if it was the way his eyes changed, or the way his voice turned all gravelly, but either way the news was like a sucker punch to the stomach. “How? I mean, if you don’t mind me asking.”
“He went creeking.” At my look of misunderstanding, he continued. “Will was kayaking down steep slides, waterfalls, over in California. His head hit a rock and he was knocked unconscious and drowned.”
I didn’t even know Will, but the thought of it slammed into me like a freight train, leaving me shaking and a bit breathless. “I’m so sorry. God, that sounds horrible.”
“Yeah. I was supposed to join him on the trip. Long story short, I didn’t.”
Which meant he probably lived with some kind of guilt. “Was he a skilled kayaker?”
“I thought so. I’ve never been creeking before, but Will had a handful of times. It was supposed to be like any of his other crazy trips, but this time, he didn’t come home. Not the way we expected, at least. He’s always been the crazy, spontaneous one of us. He’s the friend who talks us into stunts that no one in their right mind would get tangled with. He was invincible.”
I didn’t even know what to say. I squeezed his hand tightly in mine, as if the pressure could give him some kind of comfort.
“It’s why I’m here,” he said, gesturing around the hotel room. “His funeral is in a couple days. We—my friends and I—are going to his parents’ house tomorrow to spend some time with them and we’ve got a handful of things going on this week to honor him, I guess. Fishing, golfing, four-wheeling. All stuff Will did when he wasn’t jumping out of planes or swimming with sharks.”
“Vince?” I asked, remembering the friend who we’d helped into bed. It felt like a lifetime ago, even though it’d only been about seven hours.
“Yeah. He and I are the only single ones here.” As if he was suddenly reminded, he glanced at the ring on his hand. He hadn’t removed it when he’d gotten changed. “Well, you know what I mean. Kind of fucked up that I got married to someone while I was in town for my best friend’s funeral, huh?”