Page 24 of Their Stormy Reunion

I unfolded the red wool blanket and tucked it around him. “Better?”

“Better.”

“Okay, I’ll go get started on your lunch order.”

“Don’t give me any fancy city crackers either, I want saltines.”

I grimaced, but turned back to look at him and smile. “Will do.”

“Good,” he jerked his chin at me. Then winced as he struggled to adjust the pillow behind him. Dammit, in some ways he was the same old dad I remembered, but seeing him so weak and withered? It about broke my heart.

Chapter Seven

Fallon had been gone for two days. I knew because I hadn’t seen her Audi outside the Vickers’ house for just as long. I’d finally caved and knocked on their door and asked Isla where she was. Apparently, she’d had to go to Chicago for some meeting, leaving her car at the airport. When I asked Isla if she needed anything, she said that she and Bob were good. But the strain in her voice lingered with me.

I tried to put Fallon out of mind, knowing I was due for a three-day shift the next day. It didn’t work. She was there, in the back of my mind, no matter how hard I tried to shove her back into a box. Zarek immediately called me on it.

“I’m the one who’s supposed to be distracted, not you,” he grumbled.

We were both in the firehouse weight room. He was spotting me as I bench-pressed.

“I’m not distracted,” I protested, frowning up at him.

“Sure, you’re not. I’ve taken you down forty pounds in the last five minutes and you haven’t even noticed.”

I looked at the barbell in confusion, and sure enough, the bastard had stripped forty pounds without me even catching on.

What the hell?

“Look, I’m worried about her, okay?” I admitted. I picked up the towel and swiped sweat from my face.

“What’s there to be worried about?” Zarek’s bitterness cut through the air like a knife through butter. I winced at the edge in his voice.

“I’m done.” I slotted the bar into the catch, sat up, and turned to face him. “Talk to me,” I demanded.

“What’s there to talk about? When I call, Chloe stays on the line just long enough to tell me she’s fine, then she hangs up. That’s it. Every damn time.”

“Zoe has to be giving you something. Anything. She’s her twin for fuck’s sake.”

Zarek nodded. “She says I have to give Chloe space. She swears that Chloe’s okay, but she won’t say much more than that.” His shoulders sagged under the weight of his frustration. “This shit is killing me. When we got married, I promised her, man. I swore to cherish her, to love her in sickness and in health.” His eyes, filled with anguish, locked on mine. “How can I do that if she won’t even let me hold her?”

I reached up and grabbed him by the back of his neck and pressed my forehead to his. “I’ve known the two of you for most of my life. There’s no way that you won’t work this out. You and Chloe were meant to be together.”

Zarek let out a shaky breath. His voice was barely above a whisper. “From your lips to God’s ears.”

I let him go, and he turned away, his shoulders hunched in defeat. Watching him leave the weight room, I could feel his grief with every step he took toward the door.

His words echoed in my head long after he was gone. Everything he’d said, all of his pain, made me realize that the possibility of a future with Fallon meant everything to me.

Dad was right, I was going to have to do some real soul searching to figure out what made me sabotage our relationship nine years ago, so that we could have the life we deserved. The life she deserved.

If I couldn’t give Fallon all the best things in the world. If I couldn’t cherish and love her like the treasure she was, I should just walk away.

And I wasn’t fucking walking away!

“I like this.”

“What, Mom? I couldn’t hear you.” I paused, brushing dirt off my sunhat with the back of my wrist. I must have misheard her. Maybe all the time in the sun was making me hallucinate