Page 12 of Oops, I Fell For The Town Bad Boy!

He had been running from that truth for ten years, but she had been right all along.

Kane had to sit down on his bed for a moment as feelings of guilt, shame, and loss washed over him. He would have given anything, in that moment, to be able to apologize to his father for what he had done. To have mended their relationship in time to spend even a few years together.

He hadn’t done it. His father had died hating him, for all Kane knew. And if he had, Kane didn’t think he could even blame the man. Wouldn’t anyone hate a son like him? Kane must have left him in disgrace, unable to face the rest of the town.

It was only fitting, he supposed, that he was going to have to face them now.

CHAPTER 7

KANE

Pulling up outside his childhood home was like stepping into the past. For a moment, Kane couldn’t even bring himself to get out of the car.

Finally, knowing there was nothing to be gained by sitting around outside and that he would have to face this eventually, he grabbed his suitcase from the back seat and headed to the front door to let himself in. Toby waited patiently in the car. Kane had decided he didn’t want to bring his dog in right away.

He still had the key to the place. It felt strange to step up onto the porch with it in his hand — after all these years, he had never gotten rid of it — but he tried not to allow himself to dwell on the strangeness of it. He unlocked the door and let himself in.

The place had changed. Of course it had. Ten years had gone by. But even so, he found the changes startling. There was a bowl of fresh fruit on the center of the kitchen table, and someone had purchased refrigerator magnets in the shapes of puppies. Kane peered at them. They were… well, there was no other way to put it. They were cute. It was hard to imagine his father choosing something like this.

But he hadn’t spoken to his father in years. Could he really claim to know what the old man would have done?

Maybe not.

He set his suitcase down and turned on the kitchen light. Then he pulled out his phone and called Thomas Greely.

“Make it back to town okay?” Thomas asked, his tone businesslike. He didn’t give the impression of actually caring about Kane at all. It was clear that his priority was to get his job done.

Well, that was fine with Kane. He also wanted to get this done expediently and get himself out of here. “Yeah, I’m in Miller Creek,” he said. “Will we meet tomorrow morning?”

“You can come to my office. You have the address, right?”

“It’s in my email inbox.” The two of them had exchanged a few phone calls and emails since Kane had received the letter informing him of his father’s death. It had been helpful to focus on the things that needed to be done, to not have to think about the fact that he had missed his own father’s funeral. It was easier than brooding on the fact that he had sabotaged his relationship with his father and now it could never be repaired.

“Great,” Thomas said. “I’ll expect you tomorrow morning, then.”

“What time?”

“I’ll be in the office starting at nine, and I don’t have any morning appointments.”

Of course he didn’t. Kane had forgotten the pace of a small town like this. It was an uncommon day at the auto shop back home when he was able to take a walk-in — usually they were booked solid. But that wouldn’t be the way things worked in Miller Creek. It never had been before, and it wouldn’t be now.

“Okay,” he told Thomas. “I’ll be in before noon.”

“No worries.”

“Should I bring anything with me?”

“If you have any paperwork of your father’s, you can bring that along. I’m talking about things like bank statements, primarily, although anything that feels relevant to you might be a good idea to have. I have a copy of the most recent version of his will, so that’s taken care of, and I can have a second copy ready so that you can follow along on the document as I’m reading out the information.”

“Okay,” Kane said. “I’d appreciate that.”

“I know this is a difficult time,” Thomas said. “I want you to know that I make it my business to get people through this as painlessly as possible, even though…” He hesitated.

“Even though what?” Kane asked.

“I suppose it won’t come as any great shock to you to hear that you’re not… Miller Creek’s favorite son,” Thomas said. “I’m trying to be delicate about this, because I know this is a trying time for you, but I don’t see any point in pretending that this isn’t true when we both know it is.”

Kane knew there was something a bit rude about the bluntness with which he was being treated, but he found that he didn’t mind. It was better to have someone be direct about this than to have to wonder whether Thomas Greely was thinking all kinds of unpleasant things about him. At least now he knew the answer.

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