“Goddammit, Mom. This is information I need to have!”
“Why? You were working a dangerous job, and you’re my son. Your only responsibility is to make sure you come home to me alive. Why would I make you worry about this too?”
“Because he’s myfatherand he used to hurt us, so I should be here to protect you.”
“No.” She stood and stepped forward, a new hardness on her face. “That’s my job. You’re my son, and my entire job is to protect you.”
“That’s not—”
“Don’t tell me it’s not true.” She closed the rest of the space between them. “You are my child. And I let you see far too much, far too young. I will never forgive myself for the time those men broke into our house, looking for your father, and the danger it put you in. Not to mention your father’s drug-induced rages. The guilt lives with me every day. I will spend my life protecting you. Yes, my idea of protection might differ from yours, but I won’t stop. I can’t.”
Tears shone in his mother’s eyes, making him drop his forehead into his hand before scrubbing his face. He didn’t agree. But this argument was getting him nowhere.
“I don’t want you going out alone,” he said, when he lifted his head.
“I won’t. Ben will be with me.”
“Good. Is he staying here?”
“No. He knows you’re here, so he’s at a hotel. But he gets here early each morning. He just left for a little bit, otherwise you would have caught him on your way in.”
It didn’t make him feel better. None of this did.
His mother swallowed. “How was Indie?”
Colt frowned. She wanted to talk about Indie after all that? “She’s fine. She said you told her I’d been dating.”
“Oh…was I not supposed to mention Audrey? I’m sorry.”
“I didn’tdateAudrey.”
“You didn’t?”
“No. I helped her move. And you know that.”
“Oh. Okay. I’m sorry. I must have misinterpreted things.” His mother tilted her head. “How about we have her over for a meal this weekend so I can apologize in person?”
“Mom, I don’t think—”
“It’s a good time? Of course it is. I’m not letting your father dictate my life. Trust me, he’ll disappear soon, just like he always does. We can’t put our lives on hold. So…lunch or dinner soon?”
“I’ll ask Indie.”
“Good.” She patted his arm and went back to her garden as if nothing had happened.
But Colt could barely see through the rage. His father was back. And while his mother might not think it was a big deal, to him it felt like the floor had been ripped from beneath his feet and he was falling, with no way of getting back up.
Indie leanedher hip against the kitchen counter, her gaze flicking to her phone. It was late. She should be in bed. But all she could think about was Colt. The anger in his eyes when he’d grabbed his father. The way he’d watched his dad leave, like he was prepared to kill the man if he came back.
It had been a huge ordeal, and since then, nothing. She hadn’t heard from him.
She nibbled her bottom lip. Should she text him? Call?
All Colt had ever shared about his father was that he’d left when Colt was eight. He’d made it sound like no big deal. Like the man had left no imprint on his life.
But after today, she didn’t believe that at all.
She lifted her phone and opened a text to Colt. She wrote something, then deleted it. Then she wrote something again. She deleted it a second time.
