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“You’ve made it into something beautiful.”I rose out of my squat, tempted to run my hand over the back of the chair.How’d he get metal to look so fluid?He wasn’t a rookie welder, but these were his first pieces, meant to be as visually appealing as they were functional.“This is really good.”
“Nah, I know.I mean, thanks.It’s just… It’s Coal Haven.”He shrugged, but his concentration was on his collection of pieces.“I could use the extra cash for some of the repairs I need to do before we list the house.”
“Just something to think about.These are too good not to share.”
He was guarded about the town and how he was received, but not everyone in Coal Haven was a Barron, nor did everyone view him as the touch-on-the-wild-side high schooler.I had to believe that my friends and neighbors would not only see how high quality these pieces were but also how amazing the man behind them was.Like I did.
Liam
My boys were piledin my arms for our goodbye hug by the front door when the purr of an engine caught my attention.Had Grandma Gin decided to arrive early?
A chunk of me hated leaving for good.I’d still come back for Grandma Gin—and Kenny, of course.I’d thought of moving back, but money was an issue.I made twenty grand more a year than I would working around Coal Haven, a fact that made having to seek employment away from Cameron’s influence easier to tolerate.
The house was draining much of those extra funds that the commute and my extra rent didn’t burn.I needed to sell the place to afford Grandma Gin’s senior living condo.I’d told her I’d make payments in return for her watching the kids when I was gone.She was sorely underpaid, but her pride wouldn’t let me compensate her more.So I paid her mortgage and utilities too, and the land rent paid for her groceries.Grandpa Bob hadn’t left her with anything but a run-down house and a giant shop she didn’t need.
Kenny was in the kitchen making homemade macaroni and cheese even though I’d stocked up on enough Kraft boxes to build a replica of the barn that had once stood next to the shop.
I fucking loved Kenny’s homemade version.
Eli heard the car first and tore himself away from me to dart to the door.
Owen followed.“Who’s here?”
I straightened and looked out the window.A familiar red and white F250 lumbered to a stop in front of the house.Aw, hell.
“It’s the neighbors,” Eli lisped.
“Wait here.”I stepped outside and shut the door behind me.Bruce didn’t stop by to chat.He was always nitpicking on something.When Grandpa Bob had been alive, it’d been the cattle getting into the pasture or, worse, nibbling on his hay bales.Bruce had been critical of everything Grandpa Bob had done—from when he hayed to how long he kept the cattle in the pastures.
I didn’t want it to spill over on my kids.Now that Bruce leased the land, he found reasons to pester Grandma Gin, dragging Willow along as a pretense.Bruce already acted as if he was the only one who gave the boys a stern talking-to when they acted like the five-year-old kids they were.He probably assumed I was a crap dad, just like I assumed that he was only interested in when Grandma Gin was going to sell.
Bruce slid out of his pickup, his hard gaze on Kenny’s car.
“Is Kennedy here?”he growled, his dark brows heavy over his eyes.
“She’s watching the kids tonight.”I answered as if it wasn’t a big deal.And it wasn’t.
Bruce’s scowl deepened, and he added a frown to his expression.He had to know that I hadn’t ditched Kenny after Derek had died.I couldn’t blame Kenny if she didn’t mention how often we talked or when I stopped by.She didn’t need to take shit from Bruce.
Willow fluttered a hand by her chest.I had a hard time looking her in the eye.Her doe brown gaze was so much like Derek’s.“I don’t think she should be doing that.”
The scandal in her tone grated on my nerves.“She enjoys being around them.”
“Is that what you tell yourself to get free babysitting?”Bruce stepped closer.Before I could tell him to load the fuck back up in his pickup and drive away from my house, he hissed, “Don’t you know how hard she took not having a baby when my son died?”
I sucked in a breath.That was low.I had known they wanted kids and that mourning the lost chance with Derek was part of her grief process.Bruce had no right to wield it against me.“She’s an adult.She teaches full-time—at anelementaryschool.Or would you rather she stay all alone in her house?”
Willow’s hand fluttered again.Derek’s parents were hopelessly old-fashioned.Willow jumped when Bruce told her how high.She deferred to him for everything, from what she made for the church potluck to their finances.“It’s not that, Liam.We all know you don’t plan on staying here.We’ve heard that Ginny is thinking of selling.Then what?You take the boys away from her after she gets attached.”
Kenny was already attached.We were all attached to each other, like a motley crew of Lego figures stuck on the same flat piece.Moving wouldn’t change that.Except how often I could stop by her house.And how often I’d have the boys with me when I did.But we could call.
A tiny fissure opened in my chest.A hint of the void that would be left behind when I moved completely out of Coal Haven.
Bruce assessed me.“What are you doing with Kenny anyway?”
I was doing more than telling her “This too shall pass” and encouraging her to give up the job she loved to “take care of herself.”The last thing Kenny did during her breakdown was take care of herself.Part of me wondered if she’d have hit bottom so hard if it hadn’t been for her well-meaning in-laws.They hadn’t held her hand to get her through; they’d smothered her.
Her mom hadn’t helped either.She’d been an enabler.An enabler to do nothing.But her motivations were a little clearer.Kenny had suffered undiagnosed Lyme disease for years before they’d learned what was going on.Her mom had learned to coddle Kenny and couldn’t unlearn it.
