Southern Chance - Natasha Madison Page 0,12

disconnect the call. I walk over to the stands and take my usual spot. A couple of parents wave at me, and some of the dads walking by stop and shake my hand.

My foot moves up and down with nerves, and I force myself not to go back to the past. I force myself not to think about how the whole family kept her from me. I force myself not to go back down the black hole of what happened when she left.

“Hey.” I spot Beau climbing the bleachers, and he sits next to me.

“Hey there, future mayor,” I joke with him. He’s dressed in slacks and a white button-down rolled up at the sleeves.

“Very funny,” he says, shaking his head. “What’s the scoop?”

“Kallie is back in town,” I say, looking at the field and avoiding his stare. Out of everyone, he is the only one who saw how hard it was for me when Kallie left. The night of prom, we both sat in my barn and drank until we passed out. He didn’t even question how I could do that to Kallie. He didn’t ask me anything; he just drank with me. When I went to Kallie the next day and begged to see her, he had my back. When I sat in front of her house for three days straight watching for her, he was right next to me. He was also there the day I became a father. He has been a better brother to me than my actual brother.

“What do you mean when you say Kallie is back?” he mumbles and looks around to make sure he didn’t say it too loud. The thing is, the gossip mill spreads faster than the speed of lightning in a small town.

“Pretty much exactly that. Kallie is back,” I say.

“To stay?” He asks the question that has run through my mind over and over again. Not that I care because I couldn’t care less. But I’m sure it’s easier to hate her when she isn’t in front of my face every single day.

“No fucking clue. Casey called me today, but I told him to fuck off.” I swallow. “Then she stops in front of the station.”

“Wow,” he says, running his hands through his hair. “This is insane. Kallie.”

“Yup.” That’s the last thing I say before Ethan jogs onto the field, and the football game starts. The whole time, my head is spinning.

“You need me to come over?” Beau asks when the game finishes, and he high-fives Ethan when he comes out with a popsicle.

“No,” I say, “I’m putting him to bed, and then I’m crashing. I’ve been on duty for the past four days.”

“Well,” he says, stopping next to his brand-new BMW. “Let me know if you change your mind.”

“Will do,” I say, opening the truck door and buckling Ethan in. I make it home and get him in the shower when my phone rings again, and I see it’s my mother.

“Please tell me it isn’t true,” my mother hisses as soon as I answer the phone. My mother has been a rock, my rock. She is the one who held my hand when I told my father that Savannah was pregnant. She never judged me or asked me how I could have done this to Kallie. She refused to let the town win when they basically shunned me for cheating on Kallie.

“Hey, Mom,” I say, going to the fridge and grabbing a beer. I twist the cap off and take a long pull.

“I can’t even believe she is showing her face after all this time.” She slams something. “After everything that you’ve been through.”

“Mom,” I say, “it’s fine.”

“It’s not fine. She broke your heart and didn’t even give you a chance to explain.”

“I mean, I did get another woman pregnant,” I say. I hate having to defend Kallie; that stopped being my job when she stormed out of town without looking back.

“Well.” My mother’s voice goes soft. “You made one mistake. You had no choice but to be there for Savannah. She was having your child.”

I take another pull, this time making my stomach burn.

“It’s fine, Mom,” I say. “It’ll be fine.”

“Yeah, it’ll be fine when she leaves town again,” she hisses. “I have to go. I’m in the middle of baking.”

“Oh, fuck,” I say. She always does this when she gets nervous or she is angry about something or she is heartbroken. When Kallie left town, she baked every day for a week. When her friendship