Page 110 of The Life We Left Behind

DELANEY

Ihadn’t spoken with Trace about me confronting his mother, and as we pulled up in front of his parents’ house, I was starting to realize that it might have been a mistake.

It wasn’t that I was hiding it from him. It just genuinely hadn’t seemed important enough.

I glanced back into the back seat at Cade peering out the window with his mouth hanging open at the sight of the house in front of him. I couldn’t blame him. This was pretty much my reaction the first time I’d seen this house, too. I’d had no idea that people actually lived in houses like this.

But now that I was older, now that I knew all about what life had been like for those who grew up inside, I saw this house for what it really was—cold, empty, and nowhere I’d ever want any child of mine growing up.

“Trace…”

“I know. If anything seems off, if he says anything that we don’t agree with, we can leave.”

I could hear the stress in his voice, and I knew this wasn’t going to be easy for him. Trace didn’t entirely trust his father,and we had no way of knowing if he’d been involved in what had been done to us.

“I was going to ask if you were okay.”

Cade popped his head between the seats. “Yeah, you look a bit like you’re going to puke.”

He wasn’t wrong.

Trace stared at the house through the windshield and then huffed out a breath. “Is it strange that I’m nervous?” he asked.

“You have to feel your feelings, otherwise they make big angry balls of energy inside you,” Cade told him sagely.

I looked at him in surprise. “What? Auntie Blake told me that.”

“She’s a smart lady that Blake,” Trace said, nodding slowly and looking impressed.

“You’re not wrong there.” I laughed. “But maybe let’s not tell her. She’s hard enough to deal with as it is.”

Trace laughed and then reached for the car door, slipping out as he stared up at the house. I had an overwhelming urge to protect him from this. I knew what he was worried about. He was worried this was all an ambush and his mother would be joining us, hoping we’d be far too polite to just walk out. She was greatly overestimating my ability to deal with her bullshit.

I was just about to tell Trace that we could leave if he wanted to when the front door to the Farrington family home opened. Well, let’s just call it what it was. It was a massive mansion.

Trace’s father appeared in the doorway. His face broke into a smile, and then he jogged down the steps.

I’d briefly seen Jasper Farrington at my father’s funeral, but he hadn’t tried to talk to me. This was the first chance I’d had to really get a good look at him. He seemed different from how I remembered. Obviously, he was older, but it was more than that. He’d lost weight, and he just seemed…tired.

“Trace, Delaney!”

Jasper walked over and hugged Trace. Then he turned to me, and I froze. I really hoped this wasn’t a hugging type of situation. There was no way I was going to be comfortable with that.

I felt Cade move behind me, his hand touching my back as he waited to see what was going to happen. I knew he was nervous about this whole thing, even if he was trying not to show it. Part of me just wanted to put him back in the car and drive away. We didn’t need this level of aggravation in our life.

But this was an opportunity that I had to at least consider because it gave Cade a family. Not a family I’d ever thought I’d turn back to. And there was no way I’d ever be prepared to include Regina in that. But if Trace’s father was as innocent in all of this as we were, was it really fair to punish him by keeping his only grandson away?

“Delaney,” Jasper said, holding his hand to shake mine. “I’m so glad that you agreed to come for lunch with Cade. I know how difficult this must be for you, and I want to assure you that I’ve made it clear to my wife that she is not welcome at the house today.”

Now that was surprising.

Had Regina moved out or just left for the day?

“Jasper. It’s been a long time.”

“It has, my dear. My condolences on your father. He will be greatly missed in this town. A lot of people, including myself, had a large amount of respect for your father. He was a good man.”

I felt that familiar twinge behind my eyes at the mention of my father being gone, even if it was now accompanied by an anger I wasn’t prepared to deal with. Not yet, at least. I didn’t have it in me to deal with what my father had been involved in.

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