Everything in him screamed to lower his head. Kiss her. Taste her.
But he forced himself back. He had to earn back her trust, and that would take time. He had to fix what he’d broken. “I’ll talk to you soon, Cricket.”
She nodded quickly before sliding behind the wheel. Her engine didn’t start on the first try. But then, the thing was a fucking rust bucket, of course it didn’t.
They had money. And despite what she thought, his moneywasher money. She shouldn’t be driving that car. She wouldn’t be driving it for long. No damn way.
He stormed across the street to his Audi RS 5 and slammed the door after him.
He drove faster than he should have to his mother’s house. He was even frustrated about that. He’d planned to rent a place until he could mend things with Indie, but his mother’s health wasn’t great. She suffered from panic attacks, high blood pressure, and severe asthma, so he worried about her living alone.
Sometimes the panic attacks got so severe that she thought she was having a heart attack. When he was young, the panic attacks had been about his deadbeat father, who’d disappeared when Colt was eight. Leaving him and his mother was the best thing that man had ever done for both of them. Now, the panic attacks had just become a part of his mother’s life.
He pulled into her driveway, and he was about to get out when his phone rang.
Noah, Indie’s brother.
Colt put the cell to his ear. “Hey. Are you back?”
“About to get on my flight to Bozeman now.”
Just like Colt, Noah had been a Marine, but while Colt had been stationed at Camp Pendleton most recently, Noah had been at the Marine Corps Air Station in Cherry Point, North Carolina. They’d never lost contact though. The man was a year older than Colt and had been a friend for as long as he’d been dating Indie.
“How does it feel to be coming home?” Colt asked.
“Good and bad. It hit me the hardest when I stepped off base for the last time.”
“I know that feeling. I’ve been out for a month, and I still can’t believe it.”
“Ever regret it?”
“No.” His answer was instant. “I spent a year without my wife. Hardest damn thing I’ve ever done. Never again.”
“Have you seen her?”
His fingers tightened around the cell. “Just now.”
“Uh-oh. What happened?”
Had the anger in his voice given him away? Not anger toward Indie. Toward himself for losing her. “She didn’t want to talk. Ran out saying she had an appointment.”
“Maybe she did.”
“I’m sure she did. But I’m also sure that if she wanted to cancel for the husband she hasn’t seen in a year, she would have.”
“Give it time. You guys went through a lot. She wasn’t in a great place a year ago. Even six months ago, she was still struggling to find herself again.”
He leaned his head back and closed his eyes, hating hearing that. Hating that he wasn’t there for her.
“Plane’s boarding. I’ll see you soon.”
Colt nodded even though his friend couldn’t see him. “Meeting Friday at the adventure park, right?”
“Yeah, looking forward to it.”
Colt hung up and climbed out of his Audi.
His gaze ran over the old Victorian mansion where he’d grown up. The intricate brickwork. The wraparound porch. It was a combination of heritage and luxury, and it fit his mother perfectly.
