“Yes, I want her to stay. I want her to be here with you guys. She’ll be all alone out there. I want her to have help.” I shake my head. “I know her well enough to know she thinks this makes her like Ann. I bet she doesn’t want your mom to find out that the father is married.” Other than that foolish slip with Shay, Carter’s the only one I ever told about Frank’s infidelity.

“Since when does Shay know about Ann?”

I drop my gaze to the table, and Carter curses. “I shouldn’t have said anything. In the moment, I was trying to explain that I want to be as good a father as Frank was.”

“By bringing up that you thought he was a cheater? Jesus, Easton, it’s not even true.”

I lift my head. “What?”

“It’s not even true. When my mom was sick, when we thought we might lose her too, I finally talked to her about it, and she said it’s not true.”

“But your father sold the whole business. Ann said he was in love with her but felt awful about it and sold the business as a way to recommit to his family.”

“Ann was his assistant at the construction company. If she was the problem, he could have just replaced her. He sold the company and started the brewing business because that’s what he wanted to do.” Carter swirls the bourbon in its glass. “She was in love with Dad. Mom knew, but Dad didn’t reciprocate. It was awkward, but Ann had a kid at home, so Mom and Dad didn’t want her to lose the job, and since plans to sell were already in the works, Dad just rode it out.”

I think back to the woman Mom called a friend for so many years. Why did I believe her when Frank never gave me a reason to believe he was capable of being unfaithful? “I can’t believe I spent all this time taking Ann’s word for it.”

“I can’t believe you told my sister. Jesus, how long has she been walking around thinking our father was a cheater?”

Shame heats the back of my neck. “Since the night of his funeral.”

He releases a colorful string of curses then drains his glass. “Well, you’re gonna have to fix that shit. Dad loved Mom. Beginning to end. Even if that story had been true, using him as an excuse to stay in a bad marriage was bullshit.”

I lift my beer with a shaking hand and take a sip. Then another. “I’ve always been afraid I’d turn out like my father. All I knew to do to prevent it was follow Frank’s lead.”