Page 50 of A Fall to Remember

What if she’d known exactly who his father was all this time?

Could he forgive her?

Was he about to blow up their relationship?

Maybe.

But he needed answers.

He deserved to at least know who his biological father was. If the guy didn’t want a relationship with Pete, he could handle it. He was an adult now. He just wanted to know the truth.

The truth was feeling fragmented at the moment. In part because of Voyager. Jim and Shelby were skilled at altering reality. Creating worlds that sort of existed. Better versions of real life. But the search for his father was his real life. This wasn’t anything an algorithm or filtered photo could fix.

No, if he was going to pursue this, it was one hundred percent on him, and once he signed the agreement with the private detective, there was no turning back.

39

SHELBY

Shelby’s phone rang. She fumbled on the bedside table looking for her phone. A pool of light spilled through the bottom of the curtains, casting a thin shadow on the hotel-room floor.

Only one type of call came in this early. She flipped her phone over on the nightstand. Yep. An unknown number.

Another debt collector. She ignored the call, letting it go to voicemail. How long could she keep the credit card companies and her mom’s mortgage lender at bay? Not much longer.

She needed the promotion, the bonus, and the pay raise that came with it. The calls, texts, and emails were becoming more frequent and more aggressive. None of this was her fault. None of it was her debt.

And yet here she was stuck in the middle.

Her mom had mastered the art of ignoring them, but Shelby couldn’t. How many times had she tried to explain to Mom that her house and everything within it would indeed be repossessed if she didn’t at least try to negotiate with the creditors?

Mom kept blowing her off, reminding her that this was her dad’s doing. That was true, but it didn’t change the stark reality that their family’s house was about to go into foreclosure. Once that happened, her mom was going to be homeless.

How could she have her head in the sand?

How had she missed the warning signs of her dad’s gambling?

Shelby vacillated between feeling entirely responsible for her mom’s well-being and furious that she had to parent her own parent.

A text message vibrated on her phone. She rolled over to check it. It was from her sister.

Mom’s freaking out. She says they’re going to take everything in the house. I don’t know what to do. When are you back?

Tomorrow. Don’t worry. I’ll take care of it then.

Would her mom take care of it? No.

The burden of her mom, her sister, and her own future fell on her shoulders.

That might have been part of what got to her last night. Watching Miranda and Pete’s effortless relationship, friendship, and the way they looked out for each other, ripped a hole in her heart. Shouldn’t her parents be taking care of her? Not the other way around?

She threw the covers off and dragged herself out of bed. Lying here wallowing about it wasn’t going to do her any good. The sun was already streaming in through the slit in the curtains. It was early. There was still ample time before she was due to meet Jim for coffee and go over their game plan for the day. Pete had mentioned this was a good time to catch the sunrise over the ocean.

A walk on the beach sounded like the tonic she needed, so she tugged on a pair of jeans, tennis shoes, and the Fall Harvest Fest hoodie one of the organizers had gifted her.

It was too bad that Pete and Lacy had hit it off so well.

She would have taken him up on his offer to show her around, but after last night, it was obvious that Pete was into Lacy.