“True that.” With a wave, Ryan went back inside.
Mark unlocked the SUV and opened the back door for the dog. She hopped right in like an old pro. He cranked the engine and drove a half mile down the road to the spa, but Jess’s Kia was nowhere to be seen. She must have already left for the day, and he didn’t have time to swing by her house before the haunted zip-line opened so he’d catch up with her in the morning.
Instead, he drove into town and parked at the deli because the fridge at his condo—and his stomach—were running on empty. Leaving the dog in the car with the windows down, he walked inside. The place was packed with the dinnertime crowd so he took his place in line, deciding on a grilled chicken panini for himself. And, what the hell, one for the dog too. She loved her sandwiches as much as he did.
He messed around on his phone while he waited, trying to think of an excuse not to go to the Halloween party at the spa next weekend. Ethan and Ryan had insisted they all put in an appearance as a show of good faith since they were joining forces with Jess on the new land.
But parties weren’t Mark’s scene. At all.
The very thought made his skin crawl. He’d finally made it to the counter so he ordered his sandwiches and grabbed a can of Coke. With the line pressing in behind him, he moved down the counter to wait for his meal. He didn’t see why all three of them needed to go to the party. Surely he could just be a no-show, and no one—other than Ryan and Ethan—would even notice. Okay, Jess might notice, but he suspected she’d be glad for his absence.
The teenager behind the counter pushed a white bag in his direction. Muttering his thanks, Mark turned toward the door.
And froze.
The woman clearing tables in the back…for a second he could swear it was…but it couldn’t be. She was blond, slim, early forties maybe. As he watched, she turned her head, and the hairs on the back of his neck stood on end, sending a chill prickling across his skin.
His mother.
No. No way. Not here in Haven. He hadn’t seen her in over twenty years. Hell, he had no idea what she looked like now or if she was even still alive. No idea why he’d had such a visceral reaction to this woman, who was nothing but a complete stranger.
No idea why he was hustling out of the deli like he had a sniper trained on his head.
He climbed back into his SUV and was halfway home before his brain caught up with his wheels. He’d made a mistake. That’s all. His mother was long gone.
Long fucking gone.
He’d been six years old the last time he saw her, and he intended to keep it that way.
I’m sorry, but I can’t do this anymore.
That’s what she’d written in the note she left behind. Mark could still remember the funny tightness in his stomach as he’d stood in front of the school, watching the other kids leave with their parents and wondering why his mom was so late picking him up that day. Once all the other kids had gone home, he’d sat in the principal’s office until a woman named Mrs. Coates from social services came to get him.
She’d been the one who found the note in his backpack.
When she told him she was taking him to a foster family until they found his mom, he’d been so terrified he’d wet his pants. He remembered the hot, prickly embarrassment of walking out to Mrs. Coates’s car in wet pants. Of being driven to a house with people he didn’t know in wet pants. He remembered waiting, and waiting, and waiting for his mom to come back for him. Being shuffled from house to house as days became weeks and weeks became months. On his seventh birthday, he’d been sure she would finally come. She’d never miss his birthday.
But she hadn’t come. Like the foolish child he’d been, he’d waited and waited for a mother who was never coming back. When life got tough, she’d just dropped him off at school with a note in his backpack and skipped town, leaving him behind for somebody else to pick up the pieces.
He’d finally faced reality when he was ten and overheard his foster mother refer to him as an orphan. For all intents and purposes, he was an orphan. So he’d taken control over his situation the only way he knew how: He decided to pretend that both of his parents had died in the car crash that had killed his father and sent both Mark and his mother to the hospital.
Over time, he’d almost started to believe it was true. His hurt and anger toward her faded a little bit more every time he told someone his parents had both died in a car crash. He’d grown up an orphan, and it was too late to change things now.
