Page 103 of Starting Over

“It was nothing. Enjoy him.” He climbed into his truck and was gone. I was still standing in the driveway, looking at the place Declan had taken off from.

Shaking my head, I went back inside with my new puppy.

Sometime later, the furniture store came, and they delivered my furniture, putting everything where I asked them to, and I spent the rest of the day snuggled up on the couch in front of the fire, with my new best friend.

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Declan

“Sheriff.”

Hitting the button on the intercom, I answered, “Yes, Martha?”

“You have a visitor.”

Standing from my desk, I looked across the station and saw my older brother standing in front of Martha’s desk.

I fell back into my chair. Leaning back, I looked up at the ceiling. Why was he here? I knew he hadn’t left yet, but it had been days. He should have gone back to Boston by now.

Closing my eyes, I took a deep breath. The past few days had been hell. King wouldn’t talk to me. Maureen was pissed at me too. Even my daughter wasn’t my biggest fan. How the hell did my life flip upside down so fucking fast?

“Sheriff?” Martha called again.

Pressing the button, I wearily answered, “You can send him back, Martha.”

“Are you sure?”

I smiled at her protectiveness.

“Yes, I’m sure.”

A moment later, Sal walked into my office.

“She’s kind of a ballbuster, huh?”

“What do you want, Sal?”

I wasn’t in the mood for bullshit. Taking off his coat, he laid it over an empty chair, and sat in the opposite one.

“You need to talk to my son.”

Ignoring his command, I diverted the conversation. “Your son? That was fast.”

I watched him clench his fists as he tried to control his temper. We all had it, but none like Sal. I attributed that to his father’s DNA.

“He is my son. Had I been given a choice, I would have raised him.”

“And you know why Mom took that choice away from you.”

Nodding, he agreed, “I do. Doesn’t mean I like it. I understand why she did it. But it wasn’t her choice to make.”

“It never would have been yours. Darcy would never have continued with the pregnancy if Mom hadn’t stepped in.”

Leaning forward, his elbows rested on his knees and his hands hung between them.

“I understand that, too. That’s what gave me the strength to forgive her. Forty fucking years I lost, but if not for her, I wouldn’t have any.”

“He won’t leave.”

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