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“We’re the reason you abandoned Winter Falls and your family!” she shouts before bursting into tears again.
I fall to my knees in front of her. “It’s not your fault, Mom.”
“Yes, it is!” she wails.
I raise an eyebrow at Dad. He should know how to handle her. “She’s been this way since Rowan called and told us to get our butts back to Colorado.”
“What else did Rowan say?”
Mom drops her hands from her face to answer. “He said I’m a terrible mother!”
I squeeze her thighs. “I doubt Rowan said anything of the sort.”
“But it’s true. First, we know nothing about Rowan’s infertility problems. We thought he got divorced because Sandra cheated on him.”
He did get divorced because Sandra cheated on him but explaining Rowan’s marital problems is not going to help me now.
“But we failed you even worse. We had no idea you left Winter Falls because of us.”
“Having children is exhausting,” Dad says, and my brow wrinkles.
“I don’t—”
He raises a hand to stop me. “And having two gifted children is even more exhausting.”
I frown. I wasn’t gifted. “I—”
“Let me speak, son.”
I nod for him to continue.
“We were always driving one of you to some special class or training session.”
Special class? I don’t remember any special classes.
“We were lucky you were in the same grade as Lilac West at school. We could trade off driving you to White Bridge for college classes with Ruby.”
I forgot all about those college classes. But Dad is implying I’m some kind of genius. I wasn’t. The simple truth is Winter Falls High School didn’t have math classes for someone like me or Lilac. Small towns don’t have the resources for advanced classes in all subjects.
“I won’t deny we made mistakes, but we did the best we could.”
“We wanted to give you boys the world.” Mom hiccups and Dad rubs her back. “I didn’t realize how exhausting it would be.”
“And when you’re exhausted you sometimes say hurtful things. Hurtful things not meant for little ears.”
I snort. My ears were hardly little when I overheard them.
Mom grasps my hands. “Why didn’t you say anything?”
“You should have told us what you heard, and we could have handled it then instead of you letting it fester for over a decade,” Dad adds.
“I haven’t let it fester,” I deny.
Dad snorts. “Which is why we’re having this conversation now in a tiny home you have parked outside of Winter Falls instead of on your brother’s property.”
I spot the chance to change the subject and grab hold of it with both hands.
“On Rowan’s property? Ashlyn would be on my doorstep every five minutes. And the gossip gals wouldn’t let me rest until they matched me with some local.”
