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None of this matters. The past is the past. It’s time to look forward. Fischl has to get a divorce. I’m taking back custody of my son Van. We’re going to be a family like we should’ve been years ago.
I pull into the driveway and park. “Welcome home, baby.”
“Don’t call me baby. I’m not your baby.” She stares out the window. “Nice house.”
I can’t tell if she’s being sarcastic because there’s a weird note in her voice.
“Glad you like it since you’ll be living in it from now on.”
“In your dreams,” she snipes.
“Yeah, well, I guess my dreams are coming true.”
I don’t get why she’s mad. I’m the one who got robbed. I’m the one who should be enraged, but my initial anger has passed. Now I just wanna move on to the part where we're together as a family. I have some concern about Duncan and how he’s going to take it. Thankfully, the house is big so that the two boys can have their own spaces as they work out dominance issues between themselves. There’ll be conflict ahead, but the boys will work it out. They’re brothers, after all.
I help her out of the truck as much as she allows, which is basically me holding the door open and her ignoring my outstretched hand. She looks toward Ed’s cop car idling on the street.
“He’s not going to help me, is he?” she asks.
No point in lying to her. “No, he's not.”
“I should report him to his boss for failing to protect and serve.”
Suddenly I remember that her soon-to-be ex has a relationship with the mayor. “Ed’s a good guy. Don’t be messing up his record with unnecessary complaints.” I take her by the arm and nudge her toward the back door of the house. I give Ed a wave and make an mental note to give a donation in his name to the Widow and Orphan’s Fund. Probably the smarter course of action is to donate directly to the mayor, but since he's buddies with the soon-to-be ex, it makes me think poorly of him. I think I'll hunt down whoever his opposition is and make a donation there instead.
Fischl lets me lead her into the house. Her eyes take in the mudroom which is, admittedly, a bit messy. From the number of boots and tennis shoes on the floor, you’d think five guys lived here instead of two, but I’m proud of the cabinetry work in here. The walls are lined with mahogany stained natural to allow the beauty of the wood to show through. The floors are travertine tiles with a warm gold hue. “There’s a laundry room through the door there.” I point toward the end of the room.
She sniffs and puts her nose in the air. “I don’t really care.”
Her eyes say something different. They dart here and there, taking in all the details. I give her a slight push to move on from the mudroom into the large kitchen with the double islands and the big sunny breakfast nook that overlooks the pool in the backyard. The travertine gives way to long, quarter-sawn white oak floors. Calacatta gold marble covers the counters. Big lantern-like iron lights illuminate the space. It’s a showy place, but it’s warm and lived-in. There’s a cake on the counter that’s half eaten and two loaves of bread waiting to be cut into slices for sandwiches or French toast.
“What woman did you get to decorate this place?”
“No woman. It’s all my work. Well, mine and Dunc’s. We picked out all the finishes together. It’s our second home. We lived in my mom’s house after she died until my business made enough money that we could build this place. It’s big enough for you and Van to move in immediately. I’ve got a lot of extra space.”
“Your mom died?” Fischl’s head jerks around, and a pair of confused, hurt eyes meet mine.
“Yeah. She died a year after Cindy passed.”
Fischl stumbles. “Cindy died? When did that happen? How?”
“The day you took off. She and Paul were in a bad crash. My mom was babysitting Dunc that night, and it was a good thing because if he had gone with them, he wouldn’t have survived.”
“The same day?” Fischl turns pale as marble. I help her into one of the chairs at the island and then go get her a glass of water. “Why didn’t anyone tell me?”
“Because you were gone.” I place the water in front of her. “I went to your house to tell you, but you were gone, Fischl. I never left you. You left me.”
CHAPTER10
FISCHL
I stareat the only man I’ve ever loved. It’s a different love than I’ve ever felt. It goes to my soul. I love my son, Sadie, and Sebastian down to the bone, but there is something about Cooper that is a different kind of love. It’s been that way since the beginning. I can’t explain it.
That’s the lie I tell myself, not wanting to admit what I think it is. Because I know if I admit that we are soulmates, that our hearts were destined to be united, that there will be no coming back from that. It’s the only reason I ever played with the idea of really marrying Sebastian. I wasn’t going to get my soulmate, so what would it ever matter?
“I’m sorry,” I whisper, feeling stupid. I adored Cooper’s mom. She was the kind of mom I always wanted to have. I only met his sister and her husband a few times. Duncan is Cooper’s nephew. When he was a baby, they called him li’l man which was a joke because he was a big baby.
“For running?”
