Page 9 of Fall at Once

Chapter 4

Cole

Against my will, I woke up to my blaring phone alarm. I’d tossed and turned all night and woke in a cold sweat. Anxiety seemed to have taken over my dreams again, and I was getting sick of it.

With bleary eyes, I managed to shower and start a load of laundry before knocking on the kids’ doors to wake them for school.

I could already tell this would be a coffee-fueled day as I filled my mug from the pot, which, thankfully, I’d remembered to set the timer on before going to bed last night.

I bought this house from my parents after I got married. They retired and moved to their mountain cabin, and I needed a place to raise a family. I’d lived here my entire life and planned to stay forever. The sprawling ranch house was perfect for raising kids, with plenty of room and a huge backyard.

After helping Madi yesterday, I swung past my ex-wife’s place across town to pick up the kids. True to my word, we grabbed takeout pizza on the way home, and then I crashed early.

Though riddled with fits and bursts of wakefulness, sleep had brought a modicum of clarity and made me realize my interest in Madi was exactly as nuts as I had thought it to be. I didn’t have the capacity to add another complication to my life. I had two kids to care for, and according to Gigi, Madi was barely thirty. At thirty-eight, I was too old to entertain those ideas about her, no matter how captivating I found her to be.

I needed to focus on my family and repair the damage caused by the divorce. Lord knows my ex wasn’t interested in it. Sherry was too busy flaunting her new marriage all over town to care about how it affected the kids. One of us should make them a priority.

“Hey, Dad.” My oldest, Natalie, beamed at me as she entered the kitchen and slung her backpack over a chair at the table. She was cheerful, her long brown hair tied in a haphazard knot on top of her head, her big, blue eyes, just like mine, wide awake and raring to go. Who was this kid?

“Morning.” I attempted an adequate smile back as I wondered who she had gotten her love of mornings from since it certainly was not from me.

Maybe she got it from my dad. He had always been annoyingly cheery in the morning. He always said life was like a mirror.It will smile at you if you smile at it.I flipped the mirror off this morning and had no idea what that said about me.

“Can I drive to school today?” At six-months to sixteen, she was hell-bent on getting full use of her learner’s permit. Her hopeful grin made me smile despite my exhaustion as I sipped my first dose of coffee and began packing the kids’ lunches for school.

I shook out a plastic bag and stuffed it with the turkey sandwich I had just finished making and aimed a sidelong glance in her direction. “Sure, as long as you remember to slow down on the left turns, okay? Your mom mentioned something about Evan hitting his head on the window yesterday.”

She slid onto a barstool on the island, her face apologetic. “That corner snuck up on me. I swear I’ll be more careful and pay better attention. I already said sorry to Evan, and he forgave me. He actually said the worse I am at driving, the better he’ll look when he starts learning. Rude, right?”

With a chuckle, I took the keys from my pocket and tossed them to her. “You got this,” I encouraged. “Steady as she goes, okay?”

“Right. Steady as she goes. Thanks, Dad.”

“Evan, it’s time to go!” I shouted. “We’re running late. And Natalie, listen, even if you’re behind schedule, it’s no excuse to speed. It’s not worth the risk. I’ve seen the results firsthand, okay? It’s better to show up late than maimed or dead. It’s grim but advice you need to take to heart.”

“I know. I’ll be the most careful driver ever. I want you and Mom to trust me and possibly buy me a car for my birthday…”

I huffed a laugh. “You’re a good kid, even if you are a bitdelusional.” A new car for myself wasn’t even in the budget, let alone one for Natalie.

“Worth a try.” She grabbed her backpack and headed to the door. “I’ll get it started and back out of the garage, okay?”

“I’ll round up your brother and meet you in the driveway.”

Except Natalie wasn’t in the driveway with the truck when I arrived outside. She was across the street chatting with Gigi and Madi. “Hey, Dad!” She waved me over and then gestured to Madi. “I never get to talk to this one.”

Seeing her again was like a shot of espresso to my senses—jarring, instantly warming my veins to send my heart into an erratic thumping beat in my chest. I watched her on Gigi’s front porch, her eyes a little sleepy, with a soft grin gracing her face. I was content to shake her from my mind earlier while I was busy getting our morning started. But being faced with her now, everything didn’t seem so cut and dry.

Madi laughed and wiggled her fingers at me. “‘This one’ says good morning and thanks you again for getting her here safely yesterday.”

“She has a name, Nat,” Evan teased. “I don’t remember what it is, but I know it isn’t ‘this one.’” He was almost fourteen, and he would go for it any time he had the opportunity to get the better of his big sister.

“I know that,” she ground out, embarrassed. “Riley and Abigail are here all the time. I hardly ever get to seeMadison.” She glared at Evan before continuing. “See? I know her name, Ev.”

“No worries,” Madison confirmed with a laugh. “I knew exactly what you meant, Natalie.” Her eyes met mine. “I appreciate you, Cole. And since we’ll be neighbors of a sort, you can all call me Madi. Brownies are on the menu today. It’s my way to thank you and make you like me.”

I laughed inside because I already liked her. Way more than I liked any of my other neighbors.

“We already like you. If you’re related to Gigi, then you’re cool,” Evan assured her. “But we’ll still take the brownies.”

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