with Asher or because this moment, walking into an eerily quiet house, conjured familiar feelings. Whatever the reason, he was back there in a heartbeat.
He’d just finished football practice, and after waiting for a ride for half an hour, he concluded his mom had forgotten to pick him up, so he ended up walking all the way home. He was annoyed because he was a junior and he wanted his own car, but they couldn’t afford it. Maybe this would prove to his parents it was time he got one. They lived on the outskirts of town, so it wasn’t a quick walk, and halfway there, it had started raining.
When their small house came into view, he saw his dad’s truck in the driveway, but his mom’s Ford was not, which was strange because Dad should’ve been at work, and she should’ve been home.
Without thinking, he broke into a run, pushing open the front door just as the rain started slamming harder into the pavement, as if it were a warning of the storm that was about to ensue.
“Mom?” Cole called out as he closed the door behind him. He walked into the kitchen and found his father standing at the counter, staring at a piece of paper and holding an open bottle of beer.
“Cole,” he said, almost as if he’d only just then remembered he had a kid at all.
“You guys forgot to pick me up,” Cole said. “And I called, but no one answered so I had to walk home in the storm.” Water dripped from his hair, running down his back and puddling on the floor.
“I’m sorry, son,” his father said.
“What’s going on?” Cole asked.
His dad’s eyes drifted back down to the paper, but he didn’t respond. Cole stepped forward, dropped his wet backpack onto the linoleum, and took the paper from his father.
“What’s this?” His eyes scanned the page of his mom’s familiar handwriting but words that made no sense. “I don’t understand.”
“She’s gone,” his dad said.
“What do you mean ‘she’s gone’?”
“You can read, right?” his dad snapped. He chugged from his bottle of beer. “She got a better offer.”
Cole reread the letter. Phrases jumped out at him as he tried to piece it all together. I’m sorry. I’ve got to see where this goes. I know you won’t understand. I hope you can forgive me.
“She’s gone?” Cole looked at his dad. “Just like that?”
His father shrugged. “Just like that. This is why you should never trust a woman, Cole.” His drink sloshed as he gestured with the hand holding the bottle. “They’re all a bunch of liars.”
He’d gone to Chicago that night to tell Julianna, but he remembered almost nothing about the trip. He’d never gone so far alone, on a bus, but Jules deserved to hear the truth from him, no matter how devasting it would be.
He’d made his sister promise to stay and finish out the dance program—she was better off there, not around their father, who’d always drank too much, even before their mom left.
Cole would take care of everything.
Looking back, it had been a lot for a sixteen-year-old kid. Too much, in fact, which was why he and Jules ended up at Haven House that fall.
How many times had he walked into the house, wondering if his mother might’ve returned? How many times had he instead walked in to find his father in a drunken stupor, his anger turning to bitterness the more time passed?
Eventually, his dad had gotten his act together. He moved to Florida, took a job in insurance, married a woman named Marnie, and now Cole talked to him about once a month. He came back for the funeral, and that was the first time Cole had seen him in two years. The man was more of a story from Cole’s past than a father. Or maybe more of a cautionary tale. After all, he was the reason Cole stopped believing in love, marriage, women—all of it.
And Gemma was the sequel.
He’d fallen pretty hard for the perky blonde who picked him up at one of the many Harbor Pointe festivals a few summers ago. When she told him she was pregnant, Cole was full of shame. He knew better. He hadn’t intended to sleep with her, but she was so persistent, he’d been unable to resist.
Doing the right thing by her wasn’t the same as being in love, but he convinced himself they had a shot at the real thing.
For the first time, he challenged his dad’s stance