“Thanks, Collin. It was a lot of fun.”
“How’s Alan doing?”
“We broke up a few weeks ago. I finally realized, after two years of my dad telling me what an asshole he was, that he was. I’m much happier now that he’s out of my life.”
“And what about you, Ariel? How’s Brandon doing? I heard he just got traded and now he’s playing for the LA Kings.”
“Yes, and I couldn’t be happier. He’ll finally be back in L.A. where he belongs,” she said with excitement.
The four of us talked for a while until I looked across the large, manicured yard and saw my dad sitting alone on a bench in the garden.
“Excuse me, ladies. I need to go talk to my dad.”
I made my way through the crowd of people and took a seat next to him.
“You okay, Dad?”
“Yeah, son. I just can’t stop thinking about that guy at the funeral. I don’t know why, and I can’t put my finger on it. There was something about him.”
“I think you’re obsessing too much over this. Maybe Grandpa helped him once and he wanted to pay his respects.”
“Then why stand back in the crowd and not talk to anyone? Especially the family?”
“Maybe he’s shy.” I put my arm around him. “Come on, Dad. Let’s get back to the luncheon. There’s a whole lot of people to talk to.”
He looked at me with a small smile. “You’re right. Let’s go.”
We walked back to the house and my dad went to find my mom while I stopped and talked to my friend, Liam Wyatt.
“Liam, my friend. Thanks for coming.” I gave him a light hug.
“So sorry about your grandfather.”
“Thanks. I saw you at the funeral, but things have been a little crazy. I’m sorry I haven’t had the chance to talk to you.”
“Nah, no worries. Oliver and Delilah send their condolences. They’d be here if they could, but they took Sophie to Disney World. Hey, I know this is weird and all, but is something wrong with Hailey?”
“I don’t know. Why?”
“I saw her in the house, and she was acting weird. It’s like she’s on something.”
“Julia said the same thing a few days ago. I don’t know and, to be honest, I don’t really care.”
Amelia walked over to us, holding Brayden. “Hi, Liam.” She smiled.
“Hi, Amelia. Congratulations on marrying this fool.” He gave her a kiss on the cheek.
Laughter escaped her lips. “Thank you.”
As we stood there talking, another good friend of ours walked over to us.
“Collin. We’re so sorry for your loss,” Max and Emma spoke as they both gave me a light hug.
“Thank you. I’m glad you guys are here. Hey there, Sarah.” I smiled as she held out her arms and I took her from Max. “You are getting way too big too fast.”
Amelia and Emma walked away and left us guys to talk.
“Any kids in your future?” Max asked.
“Someday. I would like to wait a couple of years.”
“All my friends are off getting married and having babies, and I’m still trying to find that perfect girl.” Liam pouted.
Max hooked his arm around him. “I just saw you the other night with that smoking hot chick at the restaurant.”
Liam rolled his eyes. “Oh, she was hot, and she knew it. She spent a majority of the night taking selfies and snap chatting. For a woman who was twenty-four, she acted like she was sixteen. I couldn’t get her home fast enough.”
Max and I chuckled, and Sarah started to fuss and wanted to go back to Max. “I better go find Emma. Sarah’s getting tired.”
“Thanks again for coming. I appreciate it.” I gave him a pat on the back.
“No problem, friend. I’ll talk to you soon.”
Liam and I talked for a few more minutes and then he had to get to the office and take care of a few things since Oliver was out of town. We said goodbye, and when I went to find Amelia, I found her talking to Hailey.
“Hey.” I wrapped my arm around Amelia’s waist.
“Hey.”
Hailey excused herself, and when she began to walk away, she dropped her purse and the contents spilled onto the floor. I bent down to help her pick it up and saw four prescription bottles full of pills and a small zippered baggie with a white powder in it.
“What are these?” I asked her as I picked up the bottles.
“Nothing.” She grabbed them from my hands and nervously shoved everything back in her purse. “I’ll talk to you guys later.” She stood up and walked away.
“Maybe you should talk to her parents,” Amelia spoke.
“It’s none of our business, Amelia. Please, I don’t want to discuss this again.”
She wrapped her arms around me and pressed her cheek against my chest. “You always help people, Collin. That is one of the things I love most about you.”
An anger began to brew inside of me. I was sick and tired of people trying to shove Hailey down my throat. I broke our embrace.
“Why can’t you leave it alone?! I just lost my grandfather. Hailey is the last fucking person on this Earth I want to talk about!” I spoke in a raised voice.
I ran my hand through my hair and walked away to get some air. I stepped outside on the porch and sat down on the swing. I felt bad for raising my voice at my wife and, judging from the expression on her face, she was hurt. As I was sitting there thinking of a million ways to apologize to her, my mom came out and sat down next to me, taking hold of my hand.
“What’s going on, Collin? I saw you storm out and Amelia standing in the middle of the room. Did you two have an argument?”
I sighed. “No, Mom. It was more of me just being an insensitive asshole.”
“Tell me what’s going on. You know you can talk to me.”
“Something’s going on with Hailey and everyone is expecting me to fix it.”
“What do you mean?”
“She’s doing drugs, Mom.”
“Do you know that for sure?”
“Yes. Julia saw her doing coke in the bathroom at Peyton’s birthday party and earlier, she dropped her purse. When I bent down to help her pick her things up, she had four bottles of pills and a baggie with coke in it. Julia and Amelia both want me to talk to her. It’s none of my business. She’s not my concern and I don’t want to get involved.”
She gave my hand a squeeze. “Between you and me, Peyton expressed her concern about Hailey a couple of days ago. She and Henry do not like this guy she’s with. I know your history with Hailey isn’t good, considering what you went through, but sometimes, we need to put the past behind us.”
“So you’re saying you put what happened with Ashlyn behind you?”
“God no! She’s different. She’s a psychotic bitch who tried to hurt my family. Hailey isn’t like that. She’s a good person, Collin. She’s just lost right now.”
I let out a sigh. “I hope she finds her way back someday, but I’m not going to be the one to show her the way.”
“I understand.”
Amelia walked out on the porch as my mom gave me a kiss on the cheek and went back inside the house. I held out my hand to her.