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We heard the front door slam shut just a few minutes after Mom had left my room, and from her pleas as she called him over and over again, I knew Dad had left.
“I’M SORRY,” I mumbled hours later, when my tears had run dry. Keegan hadn’t once left my side. “I’m so sorry.”
He kissed the top of my head and hugged me tighter. “I’m sorry, Ray. I—I can’t believe this either, but you know I’m always here for you. They’ll come around, they’re just shocked right now.”
“They hate me.”
“No, they don’t. You just need to wait until they process it.” I didn’t respond, because I didn’t believe him. A few minutes later, he asked, “Does Austin know?”
I nodded my head and told him everything that happened that afternoon. I didn’t cry again, I wasn’t sure if I’d ever be able to cry again. My voice was robotic as I replayed the conversation, and I didn’t flinch when Keegan’s hard voice swore again that he would kill Austin. I knew he wouldn’t, but I had no doubt he would do something.
Keegan held me until I fell asleep on his shoulder from the exhaustion of the day. When I woke, it was dark in my room, but I could still make out my dad’s shape as he sat on the edge of my bed, his back to me, one of his hands gripping mine. I didn’t move, or give any indication that I’d woken. To be honest, I was afraid of what he’d say to me then.
He hunched in on himself, and his hand tightened around mine. And for the first time in my life, I watched my dad as he cried.
Chapter One
Reagan—July 23, 2010
I BENT DOWN to kiss my son’s head, straightened, and tiptoed out of his room, shutting the door behind me. Grabbing my phone, I called my mom as I went around the apartment picking up the toys Parker had received for his sixth birthday.
“Hi, sweetheart!”
“Hey, Mom,” I huffed as I dropped everything into his toy chest and let the lid shut. “Parker passed out playing.”
Her soft laugh filled the phone. “I bet, today was crazy. Did he have fun?”
“Understatement. ‘Fun’ is an understatement. Thank you for everything you did to help. He really did have a blast, and he loved his presents.”
“Good, I’m glad. What are you going to do for the rest of the night? Did you want to come over for brunch tomorrow?”
I smiled as I waited for the next words that would come from her.
“I just hate that you two are so far away.”
Laughing, I plopped down on the couch and stretched out. “It’s not even a ten-minute drive!”
“But you’re all alone, and ten minutes is a long time in case of an emergency.”
“Mom, I love you, we’re fine. I’m just going to watch TV until I’m tired, and, yes, brunch tomorrow sounds great.”
There was a beat of silence before she said, “You’re always welcome to bring someone, honey.”
I suppressed a groan. I knew she was just looking out for Parker and me, but I didn’t need—or want—a man in my life.
There hadn’t been anyone since Austin had given me an ultimatum of being together, or keeping Parker. There hadn’t been a need for a guy. I knew no one would want a child at my age, and I had my family.
Even though the first day of my family knowing had been intense—well, really, the first month had been—my family had supported my decision to keep the baby, and had been there for me through everything. Keegan had gone to Austin’s that first night and beaten the shit out of him. Austin and his parents hadn’t pressed charges when Keegan told his parents about our breakup, and Austin hadn’t said a word to me since.
I’d continued going to school, and when rumors started flying about my growing belly, Austin told all our friends that I’d cheated on him. He’d taken another beating from Keegan for that, but I never tried to stop the rumors. Like I’d done in our last minutes together, I’d refused to give him the satisfaction of seeing how much he’d hurt me.
I refused to let anyone see how much they were hurting me.
With help from my mom, I’d finished out the rest of high school, and graduated with a 3.9 GPA. Even though my parents encouraged me to go to college, I’d decided against it and had immediately begun looking for a job that could support my son and me. I’d started at the bottom of a local business, and had quickly worked my way up over the last four years. Within six months of graduation, Parker and I had moved into the apartment we still lived in, and I’d fought my mom on putting him in day care.
She’d won.
She watched him while I worked, but I paid her just as much as the nicest day care in the city charged. I wasn’t stupid, though; I knew she was “secretly” putting the money in a college account for Parker. But Dad had made me promise I wouldn’t let on to the fact that I knew, so I’d kept paying her, and Parker had continued going to her house five days a week until he’d gone into kindergarten last year.
