Page 122 of Fierce-Baker

Brittany had been closer to their mother. No one was that close to his father. Not that Connor Hansen treated his kids like crap. He just was distant. More like disconnected.

“I didn’t think I did until recently. Mom is almost off the rails.” Another gulp of wine from his sister. “Maybe it’s because I feel like I’ve found someone I can see a future with and it drives me nuts that Mom and Dad have chosen to live like they are. Both are selfish. They never thought of anyone but themselves. Never thought how it could affect us.”

“I learned that a long time ago,” he said.

When he and Alexa split. Or Alexa left him.

His mother had told him it was his fault.

That he should know how to make Alexa happy.

As if he hadn’t already tried everything. As if he hadn’t spent years doing the exact opposite of what his father had modeled. He was present, listened, gave, and bent over backwards until there was nothing left to give.

And it still hadn’t been enough.

Then she’d turned her anger on Alexa. Had said it was a woman’s job to stand by her man. To endure. To stay. To love unconditionally.

He’d had to remind her he wasn’t married to Alexa. Not even close.

At least not in his ex’s eyes.

Maybe that was exactly why he hadn’t told his mother about Tasha.

No maybe about it!

He didn’t need unsolicited advice from someone who thought a marriage was defined by paperwork and a shared last name. Thirty years of habit masquerading as commitment wasn’t a marriage in his eyes. It wasn’t a relationship. Hell, not even a friendship.

“Me too,” Brittany said. “So Mom is putting the guilt on you. Or trying to. What’s she saying?”

“Basically, what you guessed. Dad is blaming it all on her. And now that she’s trying to cook healthy for him, and doing all those things, you know, making the household calm too, he’s bitching about that.”

“That’s what they do best,” Brittany said. “Bitch.”

“Yeah. I don’t know if she’s trying to get me worked up to go there. If I do, it’s not going to be pretty. It’s going to be much messier than they’ve got. I don’t think she realizes that.”

“Wow,” Brittany said. “Your tone just changed. Like you’re angry. Really angry. That’s not like you. Something else has to be going on. You said a few things.”

“I don’t need nor want this crap with Mom and Dad. I might stop answering her calls for a bit. If it’s an emergency you’ll let me know, right?”

“Of course. Is something going on with you and Tasha?”

He put his feet up on the coffee table in front of him. “Not us. Or our relationship. I think things are going well. Or I thought.”

“You thought?”

“They are.” He hoped they continued, but who the hell knew anything anymore. Not after her visit with her attorney yesterday.

“Then what is the problem? It can’t be work.”

“That’s the one great constant in my life. Remember I told you the history about Tasha and her ex, right? Micah’s father.”

“You did. What was his name again?”

“Shane. Shane Rogan and the asshole showed up at her school on Friday like nothing had happened in the past few years.”

“No fucking way,” Brittany said.

“I can’t make this shit up. She handed him his ass and left, but he’s back here on business for the time being and separated from his wife.”