Page 26 of Broken Boundaries

I nod and follow him down the hall. He shows me to the guest room and the bathroom.

“Is there anything you need?” he asks. I can tell he’s worried about me, which is nice. I would’ve expected him to take Zach’s side, but he didn’t. I was angry at first, but I’m glad he got me out of there. I need time to think about what I’m going to say to Zach.

“You got anything to drink?”

CHAPTER 10

Brooks

“Wine or whiskey?” I ask Aspen. She’s sitting on a barstool in the kitchen, watching me rummage through my cabinets. It’s been awhile since anyone has been here, and I’m not used to entertaining.

“Wine.”

I grab a bottle of wine and two glasses from the cabinet and set them in front of her on the counter. I uncork the wine and fill our glasses.

“You wanna sit on the back porch?” I ask. “It’s a nice night.”

“Sure.” She grabs her glass and follows me out. We settle into the Adirondack chairs I have out back.

She sips her wine while I think about what an asshole my son is. He had a great woman. She’s hardworking, fun to be around, and has a great personality. Not to mention how beautiful she is. And he threw it all away for his old high school girlfriend, who has made her way through almost all of his old friends at this point. It doesn’t make sense, and I can’t figure out what he was thinking.

“Are you alright?” I ask carefully. She hasn’t cried at all, and I’m worried that if I say the wrong thing, the floodgates will open. I’m a great listener, but I never know what to do when a woman starts crying.

“Not really,” she states calmly. “But I guess at this point, I’m used to people in my life ditching me.”

Shit. “Aspen…”

“It’s alright. It’s not your fault, so please don’t apologize for him.”

It might not be my fault, but it’s definitely making my conscience feel heavy. “He is my son. I feel like I should’ve taught him better.”

“Hard to do when he doesn’t answer your calls.”

I huff a laugh. Yeah, I guess she’s got me there.

She takes a sip of her wine. “You know he talked to me about marriage?”

No, I hadn’t known that. I’m obviously the last person Zach wants to talk to about that. “Really?”

“Yeah.” She chuckles. “He had a whole plan. We would move here, he would get settled in with the police force, and then we’d get married. Have kids. Live the perfect life like I always wanted. I fell for it, too, like an idiot. I moved to a place where I knew no one except for him. I believed that we were in this together. I wanted so badly to be loved by someone that I trusted someone I shouldn’t have. I feel so pathetic.”

“Whoa. You’re not the pathetic one here. He’s the one who had something great and threw it all away.” I have to believe that Zach did want those things with her. Marriage, kids, the whole nine yards. I don’t think he would’ve said it and asked her to move her entire life here if he wasn’t serious. Which is why I can’t figure out why he made the choice to cheat.

“He obviously has a different opinion.” She drains her wine glass and holds it out to me for a refill, which I do without question. Hell, she can have the bottle if it’ll make her feel better tonight. I know I’ve been there a time or two.

“You know we’ve hardly had sex at all since we moved here? I thought he was just stressed, but now I see he was probably getting it from someone else.”

I wince.

“Sorry, I know I shouldn’t be talking about this with you. I just feel so stupid that I moved my entire life for him.”

“Nah, it’s ok. I hate that he did this to you.”

She sighs. “Me too. I really liked it here, too. Now I’m going to have to find somewhere else to start over again. Alone.”

Whoa. What? “Why can’t you stay here?”

She looks over at me with glossy eyes. “Come on, Brooks. I can’t stay here. Blue Haven is Zach’s home. Not mine.”