Ben looked across the table at Caleb this morning and said, You know what? You can cover shit with money but it's still shit.
Caleb asked him if he had something he wanted to say.
Ben nodded. I just did. You're a piece of shit.
Caleb nods, looking at me. I see you told him the rest of your tales.
It's ongoing, I say, sipping my coffee. If the table is going to go over I really want to finish my coffee first.
What made you think you could do that? Ben is not holding to his agreement to be calm.
I was twenty years old and I thought the way to take the world was by brute force. That's why I've spent thirty years trying to make it up to her.
Sort of trying and sometimes not trying.
She told me to go away and I left. Jacob had her through the awful years. She was a lot more stable with me. In face, she seems better than ever now, with me right here.
OH my God. You're not going to take credit for that. You know who gets that credit? THIS GUY RIGHT HERE. He points at Loch.
So Caleb points at Loch too. This guy? The one who took her out there and put her in the middle of a fucking carny nightmare? That's no place for a child.
It was fine until YOU showed up.
HEY.
They all look at me. I was loud.
Stop it. The only reason it's coming out now is so it's out and we can move on. Otherwise leave him be. He's literally paying for his crimes. He's worked hard.
He got lucky. We don't need him.
I do. I need him. Henry needs him. This isn't going to turn into a war. No one touches him.
What about you, Loch? You're fine with this?
Nope. I never said I was. I don't want him anywhere near us but it's necessary. Sometimes I think he purposely got you pregnant just so you'd always be tied to him, Bridget.
Caleb laughs. That's exactly what I did. This is a multiyear plan.
There goes the table. I don't even know which one of them flipped it. I just know he was smiling when he said it and that means it's a lie. He's seeking forgiveness from me and me alone now.
