Page 57 of Fall at Once

“Dad?” Evan’s voice was small and scared as he stood in the doorway watching.

“Go back inside, bud.”

“But—”

“Please, Ev,” Cole repeated his request. “Go on inside. I’ll be right there. It’s okay.”

Gigi rushed around me to take Evan into the house.

“It’ll be okay, bud. Go inside with Gigi.”

“No, it won’t!” Natalie yelled. “Nothing will ever be okay ever again.” She buried her face in my neck and held on to me.

“Oh, sweetheart.” I held her tight, finding Cole’s eyes over her shoulder.

“You should go, Sherry,” he said. “Let me handle this.”

“I—I swear I didn’t mean to. It just happened. She said something terrible, and I reacted without thinking. I’m so sorry. Natalie, I’m sorry, honey. Please look at me.”

Sherry hovered at my side, trying to get Natalie’s attention.

Natalie clutched the fabric of my hoodie tight in her fists as she mumbled into my neck. “Make her leave me alone. I can’t talk to her right now.”

“Excuse me?I’myour mother; she has nothing to do with this.” She glared at me. “Who even are you?”

“I’m Madison Winslow?—”

She waved a hand in the air and cut me off. “Oh, okay.” She dismissed me. “One of Gigi’s girls.”

“Now she’s Dad’s girl.” Natalie pulled back, her eyes glinting angrily as she glared daggers at her mother. “She’s coming over for dinner tonight, right, Daddy?”

Sherry’s eyebrows shot up as she looked me over. “She is? Isn’t she a bit young for you, Cole?”

“Sherry,” Cole barked. “Leave. Go home. We’ll talk later. You’re making this worse.”

He had obviously been in the shower. His hair was full of shampoo bubbles, and his smattering of chest hair was matted into his skin with soap swirls. He also had a few tattoos, but I couldn’t tell what they were. They were obscured in all that lather.

I blinked the sight out of my mind and refocused on the scene at hand.

Damn.

“Okay, I—okay,” Sherry stammered. “Natalie, baby, I’m sorry. I’ll make this better. I promise you.” To Cole, she said, “I didn’t mean to hurt her. This has never happened before, you know that. You know me! Please make sure she understands that I would never?—”

“I know. I’ll get to the bottom of everything. I got this, Sherry. Go home.”

“Okay. I—thanks.” After one last glare aimed my way, she gotinto her car and left.

“Natalie,” I whispered. “She’s gone now, honey.”

Her tear-filled eyes met mine when she pulled away. “I practically tackled you. Did I hurt you?”

“No. You didn’t hurt me. I’m fine. Don’t you worry about me.” I cradled her red cheek in my cool palm.

“Natalie, sweetheart.” Cole’s gentle voice went straight to my heart, even though his words were not meant for me. Natalie was so lucky to have a father like him. “Let’s go inside, yeah?”

“Okay, Daddy. Am I in trouble? I was really mean. I shouldn’t have said what I did to her. It was terrible. I?—”

His eyes softened on her. “No, you aren’t. Not at all.”

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