. .”
“. . . is history?”
He sighed because part of him hated that it had worked out that way, and he wanted her to understand. “Look, working as a knight in a corny dinner show isn’t exactly my idea of a long-term career, but at the time I needed a steady job to take care of this house and . . .”
Melody.
Although Aunt Jane had purchased Mel’s apartment at Bonnie’s Place before she died, and left a trust for her care in Colt’s name, it simply didn’t cover everything. His paycheck was necessary to keep Mel comfortable. His aunt and uncle had taken him in when he had nowhere to go and cared for him like their own son. Caring for Mel was his way of repaying them their kindness, and he wouldn’t have had it any other way.
“And?”
There had been moments over the course of the past week when he’d almost told her about Mel, and he’d add this moment to that list, but the timing still felt premature.
He shrugged. “My car, living expenses. You know, the regular.”
“I know,” she said. “Bills and expenses. Try taking care of someone else too. It’s tough.”
“I admire the way you look after Ryan.”
“I know . . .” Her lips twitched, and she took another sip of wine. “I know he’s big and awkward and a little goofy, but he’s the only family I’ve got. When I was born, Ry was already eight years old, and he’d already had his accident. But he was always a gentle giant. And he always loved me. Loved playing with his little sister. Watching TV. Pushing me on the swing. Dragging me around in his red wagon. Singing songs to me. Leading our daddy’s horse around the farm with me on her back. I was . . . unplanned, and my parents were busy on the farm. Ryan was . . . he was my sweet place, you know?”
“Your sweet place?” whispered Colt.
“My hugs and kisses and smiles and songs and ‘I love yous.’” She’d been looking at him as she made her list, but when she said the words “I love yous,” her cheeks flushed and she dropped his eyes. Softly she added, “My sweet place.”
“I like that.”
“You do?”
He nodded. “A lot.”
“Well, you can borrow it whenever you like,” she said, her grin back in full force as she took another sip of wine. “What about you? Who’s your sweet place? Your cousin? Melody?”
No. You. Every day I spend with you, you become my “sweet place,” sunshine. He wished he could say this to her, but he hesitated, afraid that such big words would scare her away. Instead he said, “She’s important to me, yeah.”
“Did you live here? With your aunt and uncle?”
He nodded. “My parents were in a car accident when I was ten. They died instantly.”
“No!” she cried, turning to face him and cringing with sympathy as she flattened her free hand over her heart.
“I was visiting here when it happened, so I just . . . stayed.”
He chose not to share that, just before the accident, his parents had left the restaurant where they’d just had dinner in a terrible hurry. According to the police, Colt’s father had gotten upset about something on the bill, picked a fight with the waiter, and belted him in the stomach when the waiter insisted it wasn’t a mistake. While the restaurant manager called the police, Colt’s father threw some money down on the table and pulled his wife out of the restaurant, dragging her out to the parking lot and speeding away like the devil was at his heels. Why? Because he’d already been arrested twice for assault, and a third charge would mean a significant prison sentence.
His father was racing away from the restaurant, probably looking in the rearview mirror, when a deer jumped in front of the car. He hit the deer and lost control of the car, driving off the rain-slick road, into a ravine, and smashing into a tree. Years later, when he read the coroner’s report, Colt was relieved to read that there was no way they could have survived the impact. They’d died instantly.
“God, Colton,” she said, taking several steps to stand before him. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”
“Yeah. It was . . .” He ran a hand through his hair, pulling out the black rubber band and placing it on the nightstand. “. . . bad.”
His father hadn’t been just a mindless brute of a man, though, which was