The three of us look exactly the same except my father’s black hair has now turned white. He looks at me with narrowed eyes, and I see in front of him the paper that I had clutched in my hand last night. Then I look over at the wall but find the mess of the bottle from last night has been cleaned up.

“You’re sitting in my chair,” I say, and he just looks at me.

“That is the least of my worries today,” my father says, pressing the button on the phone.

When Bonnie answers, he says, “We are having a meeting, and there are to be no interruptions,” and releases the button.

“No interruptions.” I laugh bitterly now. “What’s the matter? You don’t want to tell the whole town that your sorry excuse of a son isn’t man enough to take responsibility for his actions?”

“What did you just say?” Liam says as he gets up and walks to me. I can smell the whiskey on him as if he bathed in it.

I go toe-to-toe with him. “How could you just walk away from your own flesh and blood?” I ask. “How could you?” Then I turn and look at my father. “And how could you live in a town and see him all the time and not want to get to know your own grandson?” I shake my head. “How the fuck can you do it?”

“Please,” Liam says, rolling his eyes. “We don’t even know for sure it’s my kid.” My hands flex into fists, but I try to keep my cool. “For all I know, she spreads her legs for everyone.” I don’t even think before I grab his shirt in my hands and yank him toward me. He’s taller than I am, but he’s lanky whereas I’m built like an ox thanks to the time I spend in the gym lifting weights.

“Let him go,” my father says, getting up and coming over to us. “This is exactly what she wants,” he hisses. I let go of my brother and turn to look at my father.

I hope he sees the hatred in my eyes. “You think she wants anything?” I ask him. “You think after you threw two hundred dollar bills in her face that she would want anything to do with you?” I laugh.

“Well, then I see she told you all about it,” my father says, and he puts his hands in his pockets. “She signed an NDA.”

“Who the fuck cares what she signed? She gave birth to your grandson. Does that not even register in your head?” I say, my voice getting louder. “How can you do that?”

“Oh, please,” Liam says. “If you ask me, she got the better end of the deal.” He walks back to his drink and takes it down in one gulp. “She wasn’t even that good.”