At least, I’m assuming she did. Her online presence is practically nonexistent these days.”
I lifted my arms in surrender. “Well, I’m open for ideas.”
“Ian is my little brother. I’ve looked out for him his whole life, but I’ll be damned if I’m going to let him hurt Eva again. She doesn’t love him anymore, but he’s always known how to push her buttons. He’ll appeal to her big heart, her compassion, and their history. Tell her he wants the chance to be a father, to get to know the boys, be a better man. He’ll do anything and everything he can to worm his way back into her life.”
“Eva’s not stupid enough to buy into that.”
“Stupid? No, Eva’s not stupid, but she is incredibly vulnerable, and Ian knows that. He’ll weasel himself into her home, promise he’s going to go straight, and then take advantage of her kindness and generosity.”
Like hell. I slammed the glass on the desk. “Not gonna happen.”
Approval glimmered in Ross’s eyes. He didn’t look quite so tired anymore. “What are you willing to do to see that doesn’t happen?”
I answered immediately and with absolute conviction, “Anything.”
“I was hoping you’d say that,” Ross said with a smile and a calculating gleam in his eye. “Now, listen, I know Eva better than she knows herself, and what we’re going to have to do is ...”
~ * ~
Eva
The town was abuzz with activity in preparation for the annual harvest festival. Wooden stands were erected in the park at the center of town and decorated in the vibrant colors of the season. Most of them were devoted to food in some fashion. Every local restaurant and tavern was involved as well as the nearby farmers and orchard owners. There would be delicacies, primarily Italian in origin, like the population, but also grand showings by the pockets of Irish, Polish, and German immigrants who had settled in the area decades ago as well. The result was a multicultural culinary event that brought people from nearby communities to Bear Run in droves.
Thousands of twinkling lights had been weaved and threaded through the peak foliage of the park; old-fashioned gaslights of copper and cast iron had been polished until they gleamed. Truckloads of fall flowers—mums, asters, and decorative kale—had been brought in and artfully arranged with freshly chipped mulch along the scrubbed and tiled walkways.
It was truly beautiful. And I couldn’t bring myself to care beyond a vague, mild sense of appreciation because inside, I felt hollow. Some of that was offset by reconnecting with my parents. Erasing two decades of hurt and worry wasn’t something that could be accomplished overnight, but we’d made significant progress.
Life lesson: forgiveness was a powerful thing.
That might sound as if I was stating the obvious, but let me tell you, saying you forgave someone and actually letting go of the pain you’d held in your heart were two very different animals. It wasn’t easy. Even harder? Keeping yourself open enough to fill the void, especially when there was so much other pain camped out just beyond the walls, chomping at the bit to get in.
I’d firmly believed that I’d done the right thing in walking away from Jace, but now, I wasn’t so sure. If Dark Wing really was calling it quits, then I might have sacrificed my chance at happiness for nothing.
If was the operative word. Plenty of bands said they were retiring, went all out on a farewell tour, and then decided they weren’t quite ready to call it quits after all. Performing was like an addictive drug in that respect. The more successful a band was and the longer they’d been around, the harder it was to walk away.
That was one of the reasons I’d made the decision I did. Dark Wing had been riding the wave for a long time. How could I ever hope to compete with that?
And yet ... part of me wanted desperately to believe it was possible.
The truth was, I missed Jace terribly. His cocky smile. His golden eyes twinkling with mischief and passion. I missed the conversations we’d had, the meals we’d shared, the way he’d mastered my body, and the sounds he’d made when he came.
Most of all, I missed how I’d felt when I was with him. Whole. Complete. Loved.
I wasn’t making it any easier on myself either. I watched his video over and over again, getting my Jace fix the only way I could. Seeing his face, the plea in those beautiful golden eyes as