Page 1 of That One Heartbreak

Chapter

One

“I’m not goingon a date with your neighbor’s son,” Kate Connelly told her mom over the phone. She had it jammed between her shoulder and ear, freeing up her hands to yank open the kitchen cupboard and pull out the cereal boxes for breakfast.

Granola with added protein for James, because at fifteen years old he had a thing about not having big enough muscles. Frosted Lucky Charms for eight-year-old Ethan – Kate hated the things but she’d long since given up the fight for him to have at least one meal a day without added sugar – and boring old cornflakes for Addy who at six was the fussiest of them all and hated anything that wasn’t plain.

“Why not?” her mom asked, sounding put out. “He’s single.”

Kate would have laughed, but she knew her mom was deadly serious. And this was one of the many reasons why she was thankful that she’d moved far,faraway from her hometown. “Because he has six kids,” she pointed out, grabbing the milk from the refrigerator. Dammit, she’d forgotten to switch on the coffee maker. They were going to be late.

“So? That just shows you he’s the settling down type,” her mom countered.

“That would make nine kids between us.” Addy lumbered into the kitchen wearing her Sunday dress. At least one of her kids was up on time.

“And? People have big families all the time.”

Yeah, but Kate could barely cope with her three. Between school and the after-school activities, the housekeeping, and holding down a job, she was never quite sure what day it was, let alone which kid it was time to pick up.

Thank goodness the end of the school year was in sight. She couldn’t wait for the warm days and the long evenings.

“Mom, it’s not happening. Anyway, he lives two hundred miles away.” She could still remember Ray from when she was a kid. Ten years older than her and a momma’s boy. Not that there was anything wrong with that. She had two of her own momma’s boys, after all.

But a man wasn’t what she needed right now. Unless he was willing to do school drop-offs and pick up cereal from the grocery store when the boxes were empty and do something about the backyard, then she wasn’t interested.

“But if you two fell in love you could all move back here,” her mom said, sounding whiny. Kate checked her watch. They’d been talking for exactly two minutes. That was usually all she could handle. She loved her momma to pieces, but damn, if she didn’t get her own way she let you know it. “It’s been two years, Kate,” her mom added softly.

And there it was. The reminder that twenty-four months had passed, because yeah, she hadn’t gotten out of measuring the time in months yet. Funny how people expected that to mean something. And funny how little time two years felt when you’d spent most of it in some kind of weird half-life.

“Mom, I have to go. The kids need breakfast,” Kate said quickly, needing this conversation to be done. “I’ll talk to you soon, okay?”

“But what about Ray?”

Kate ended the call without acknowledging her mom’s question right as James walked into the kitchen, wearing a pair of old sweatpants and a t-shirt. He already looked so much like his father it caused her chest to tighten. “We’re leaving in twenty minutes,” she told him. “Where are your Sunday clothes?”

“I’m not going to church,” he mumbled, grabbing the granola and pouring it into a huge bowl. She winced, knowing the price of the stuff, but didn’t say anything.

“Of course you’re going to church. It’s the one day of the week that we’re all together. Now go get changed.”

He poured milk into his bowl. “I’m going to the station. They have some space for new junior firefighters.”

And just like that her heart felt like it was doing a loop-the-loop. She was so not ready for this. Even less ready than she was to think about dating again.

She should have known he’d want to go. James had always hero worshipped his dad, after all. And since Paul had been a firefighter, James wanted to as well.

But she couldn’t stand the thought of it. Which was probably why he was trying to blindside her. Because if he’d asked, she would almost certainly have said no.

“Not this week,” she told him. “We need to talk about it first.” When she was ready. Which would probably be never, if she was being truly honest.

“When?” he asked.

“Soon,” she promised.

His lips were tight as he looked up at her. He could be as stubborn as his dad was, too. If Paul was here, he’d bark at James and that would be the end of it.

If Paul was here, they’d both be at the station for fire training.

“Mom, I can’t find my pants,” Ethan said, running into the kitchen in his shirt and boxers and nothing else.

---