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“Oscar was watching the lockers,” Nate said. “He didn’t like that it was Nick and not me. They took him. I went to get him. We sorted it all out. We’re done.” He made it sound like he’d gone to pick Nick up from a birthday party or something simple. Going to the storage facility had been anything but simple, especially with Connor in the car.
“Listen,” Nate said, leaning forward. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean for Nick to get hurt, which he didn’t by the way. He was a little shook up, but he’s fine. Not a bruise or a scrape on him. I didn’t mean to take your truck. I didn’t mean to keep this secret from you. I just…wanted to handle this myself, and it was fine.”
“Until it wasn’t.”
“Until it wasn’t,” he conceded. “And listen, Ginger, they’re going to take Connor from me. I’m going to have to go back to River Bay or somewhere like that.” He leaned even closer to her. “Will you please take him? He knows you, and he loves you, and I’ll come get him when I’m out, and you’ll never see me again.”
Ginger balked and leaned away from him, not quite the reaction he’d been hoping for. He chided himself for being so darn hopeful all the time. But he’d imagined a scene where Ginger leaned toward him too, and maybe cradled his face in her palm, and said, “I don’t want you to go. When you get out, you’ll come stay here with me and Connor.”
Instead she asked, “Why can’t your parents take him?”
“They just can’t.” Nate shook his head, his only concern for the child. “I’ll ask Spencer.”
“Really, Nate. Why can’t your parents take him? Why did Ward name you as his guardian?”
“They’re too elderly,” he said. “My dad has a temperandcolon cancer. My mom forgets things. A four-year-old paired with them would be a disaster.”
The back of the van opened, and a Unit Officer stood there. Nate didn’t know him, but he had a feeling they were going to be good friends. “Time’s up, ma’am.”
“Please,” Nate whispered, reaching out and taking Ginger’s hand again. He managed to get in one good squeeze before she pulled away.
“I can’t believe I trusted you,” she said.
“I’m sorry,” Nate said again. The words weren’t adequate, but they were all the Good Lord had given to humans. What else could Nate say? What else could he do?
He sat there and watched as Ginger climbed out of the van and walked away, his heart cracking right down the middle. In that moment, he knew he was in love with Ginger Talbot, but he was absolutely powerless to keep her in his life.
* * *
Nate gota fifteen-minute call every other day in Administrative Detention. He’d called Spencer the first day, as he’d received word that Connor had indeed stayed at Hope Eternal Ranch. He’d gotten to speak to his nephew for thirteen minutes, where he tried to reassure the child that he’d be coming back for him soon.
Sooner than Nate even knew, as he’d been assigned a hearing to review his blunder with the Residential Reentry Center where he’d been assigned.
His second call went to Nick, who talked for most of the fifteen minutes about how he’d been calling everyone in the state of Texas about getting Nate out of prison and back on the ranch.
Apparently, the Talbots had some deep pockets if the right one got involved in something they were passionate about, and Nick had somehow bonded with Nate and wanted him and Connor to get their familial happily-ever-after.
He’d talked to Connor again a few times, and once he’d tried to call Ginger, but she wouldn’t pick up his call. And that was all the answer he needed.
“You ready?”
Nate looked up at the deep voice of Warden Dickerson. “Yes, sir.” He stood, the jangling of the handcuffs in the Warden’s hands reminding Nate that he wasn’t in Admin Detention because he was leaving the facility for a fun time on a ranch somewhere along the coastal bend of Texas.
He was going to the hearing, and he fully expected to get sentenced to finish out his original punishment of six years. He’d been shaving days off because of his good behavior for years, all to have it undone by one single act.
One single decision.
It was the right one, he told himself. He couldn’t have lived with himself if Nick had been permanently injured—or worse. Ginger would’ve never forgiven him then.
She hasn’t forgiven you now, he thought as the Warden opened the cell door.
“I don’t need these, do I?” he asked, staring a hard look in Nate’s direction.
“No, sir.” He approached the warden, wishing so many things could be different.
“Nate,” Dickerson said. “I’ve done everything I can for you. I don’t know what will happen today.”
“I know,” Nate said. “I’ve drawn Billings.” And he was the toughest judge in the county.
