She looked hurt, and for that he felt guilty. He didn’t have it in him to be a total ass.
‘I wanted to spend the day with my family. We’re still a family, aren’t we?’
He wasn’t sure what she wanted to hear right now. ‘You left us, remember?’
‘What if it wasn’t the right thing to do?’ She toyed with the stem of her wine glass. She looked less confident than he’d ever seen her. From the moment they’d met he’d got a buzz out of her strong personality, the way she was so sure of herself. She seemed so different now.
Dylan joined Prue at the table and took the chair opposite. ‘What are you saying?’
‘I think we should try again.’
He ran a hand across his jaw, still smooth from the shave that morning, before his ex-wife had turned up. Last year, Prue had had the kids for Thanksgiving at her parents’ house and he’d hated being apart from them on such a special day. So today, when he’d opened the door to see her standing there, telling him her plans had changed, he hadn’t had the heart to turn her away.
She looked up at him. Up until this point she’d stared into her glass of red as though it could magically help her know what to say. ‘Don’t I deserve a second chance?’
‘Where was this two years ago, when I was knee-deep in diapers with Jacob and you barely glanced over your shoulder when you walked away?’
Her bottom lip trembled. ‘I think I made a mistake.’
‘We’re settled now, Prue. And you’re still a part of our lives.’
‘Am I?’ Her voice was laced with doubt.
‘You are, but in a different way.’
Her hand shot across the table and found his and he froze beneath her touch. He’d wanted this for so long. He’d told nobody, but he’d cried a week after she left when he realised she wasn’t coming back. He hadn’t believed her at first, he’d thought it was a dramatic protest and she’d come to her senses.
‘Your mom came to see me,’ he said.
‘I didn’t ask her to, but I know she wants us to work it out. My parents were angry when we separated; Dad didn’t talk to me for weeks. Did you know that?’
He didn’t. ‘That must’ve been hard.’
‘It was. We’re fine now and talking it through with him made me see what I was doing. I have a family and I walked away, I left behind my responsibilities.’
Her father had always had a peculiar hold over her, almost manipulative. Dylan had never got on with him. They’d been polite and he’d never mentioned any discomfort to Prue, but Michael wasn’t a man Dylan would ever grow to admire. He imagined he was a man who was fine when he was in your corner, but if you ever went against him in what he believed or did, the fight would be hard, unpleasant and the man would most likely win.
Dylan took his hand away now. ‘You can’t do this to us, Prue.’ She’d become like her father in more than just looks. Dylan thought the man a little self-obsessed and the more he’d got to know Prue, the more he’d seen that side of her too. Sometimes he didn’t even think she knew she was being that way. It was the little things she’d done rather than a colossal declaration of selfishness, like when Jacob had fallen over and cut his knee. At first she’d scooped him up and cuddled him to her, but as soon as his tears had dried it was all about the bloodstain on her white linen trousers that cost a fortune.
‘I’m doing thisforyou,’ Prue insisted. ‘Forus. The kids need a mom and dad.’
‘They have both of us.’ He took his cup over to the sink, faced the wall, and looked out of the window at the darkness, the deep-green foliage of the trees that lined his property just visible beneath the moonlight. Cleo’s words rang in his ears over and over: ‘…go back to your family… no hard feelings… it’s where you should be.’
The problem was, where he should be and where he wanted to be weren’t necessarily the same thing. And meeting Cleo was a part of that. But was she a big enough part to take a gamble on someone different in his life, when here he was being offered what he’d always wanted for his kids, what he knew was right: to be a proper family again?
12
THE LITTLE KNITTING BOX, WEST VILLAGE, NEW YORK CITY
‘That yarn looks gorgeous.’ Kaisha admired the contents of the box Cleo was emptying at the counter at the front of the store. It was only a small delivery but no less impressive for that.
Cleo smiled. ‘You want to touch it, don’t you?’
‘Can I?’
‘I don’t know,’ Cleo teased. ‘Have you scrubbed your hands?’ She loved how wide Kaisha’s eyes were, like she’d never seen anything so beautiful.
Kaisha showed Cleo her hands and Cleo laughed. ‘Go on then. I’ve only ordered this one a few times.’
