Page 23 of The Life We Left Behind

Was that a lame thing to ask someone? I was so used to everyone being wrapped up in their own business in the city that I’d possibly lost the ability for small talk.

“Yeah. I met my husband in college, and we came back to visit his folks. When I saw the florist shop was going up for sale, it was kind of like fate. Flynn wanted to come back home anyway, and I fell in love with this place as soon as I stepped foot out of the car.”

“Willowbrook can have that effect on you. Wait, Flynn? You’re married to Flynn Dunn?”

“Six years now. I take it you knew him?”

“Yeah, I mean, it’s hard not to know everyone when you grow up somewhere like this. But I remember Flynn from school.”

Emma leaned her elbows on the counter as she moved closer. “I’m going to need some of those stories to use as ammunition.”

“Well, I have some amazing ones. Consider yourself the winner of every argument for the next six months because if you want dirt on Flynn, I’ve got just the stuff.”

She moved to the register and rang me up as I passed her my card.

“We should grab coffee so I can take detailed notes,” she said as she passed me her card. “Are you sticking around after the funeral?”

Was I? My first reaction was to say no, but then I remembered what Cade had said that morning on the phone.

“I’m not sure?” I had no idea why that was a question, and Emma cocked her head to the side as she stared back at me.

“Sounds like you want to,” she pointed out. “What’s stopping you? Job? Husband? Kids?”

“I have a son. Cade. He actually wants to move here. But…Willowbrook is so small, and I left so I could… They always know everything about you. There’s no…” I knew what I was trying to say, but no matter how I tried to say it, I couldn’t get my thoughts lined up.

She nodded thoughtfully, reaching across the counter and squeezing my hand. “I get it. I grew up in the city. No one cared about you enough to get into your business, and with it comes freedom. It’s kind of lonely, though too.”

She was right.

“Damn, truth bombs this early in the day. I feel like I’m going to need alcohol and not coffee to go with a conversation with you.”

Emma laughed but then started giving me a look that bordered on scary. “You might be on to something there.”

I shook my head in exasperation. “I can’t wait for you to meet my friend Blake.”

CHAPTER NINE

DELANEY

Emma and I made plans to meet for drinks once Blake got into town and Flynn had unwittingly been volunteered for babysitting duty. Honestly, I was more worried about what Cade would learn from Flynn than him having any trouble babysitting. Cade wouldn’t be any trouble whatsoever. It was why Blake liked hanging out with him so much.

As I pulled up to the house this time, that dread I’d felt before wasn’t there. I peered out of the windshield at the beautiful house in front of me and that sense of coming home hit me hard. This had been such a happy place for me as a kid. Maybe it could be again? I shook my head even as the thought popped into my head. I might have misjudged Willowbrook, but it didn’t take away from the fact that this town was practically owned by the Farringtons. Seeing Trace at the pond had been like stepping into the past, but moving here? Living here on a full-time basis? I wouldn’t subject Cade to the wrath of Regina, and there was no way he could avoid her if we moved our life here. Cade never asked about his father’s side of the family. Even if there wasn’t an image of them in his mind, I didn’t want to replace it with thereality of Regina and the toxicity she took everywhere with her. No one was going to treat my baby like she no doubt would.

A wave of maternal vengeance swept through me, and I stepped out of the car, seeing this place for what it really was. A beautiful past that was best left exactly as that. The past. Letting it go was the best way to preserve those memories, but before I could do that, I knew I’d have to face Trace. Even if it wasn’t for him to tell me whatever it was that he suddenly had the need to say, I deserved the chance to say my piece, to point at his shitty behavior and show him how I hadn’t let it break me.

Maybe that was childish.

Maybe it was petty.

But did it really matter?

When I walked through the door, the first thing I saw were those damn boxes again, and I sighed. I genuinely had no idea what to do next, and the need to pull the notebook out of my bag and start to make lists was making my brain itch.

I wished Blake and Cade were here as I looked around at the empty echoing rooms and the mountain of jobs that needed to be done. My father might have helpfully packed the majority of the house away, but what was I supposed to do with the boxes? They wouldn’t fit into the two-bedroom apartment I had in the city. So, that left me with going through every single box and determining what to donate and what I wanted to keep. An entire family’s lifetime packed into boxes was a whole hell of a lot of boxes.

So, instead of doing what I was supposed to do, instead of looking at the boxes, searching for the paperwork I needed to find, I slumped down onto the couch instead. My head tipped back onto the soft cushion, and I closed my eyes as I sighed.

The point of me coming here before Cade was to make sure that I had enough done to limit his time in this place. I shouldn’tbe sitting here feeling sorry for myself. I should be doing what I needed to do to protect my son.

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