Page 43 of All You Need Is Love

Natural as could be, he placed his arm around her shoulders and tucked her against him. “Small-town gossip ruined my family.”

“How?” Sure, Carlotta Jenkins—the queen bee of the Walker Beach gossip circuit—knew everything about everyone, but to Shannon’s knowledge the stuff she said was never malicious. Or maybe Shannon was just naive.

“I told you my parents divorced, but not why.” A sigh shuddered out from him, rumbling beneath Shannon’s ear. “My dad was up for reelection, and a rumor circulated that my mom had cheated on him with multiple men. These guys all denied it, of course. My mom denied it too, but my dad started to believe it. Oh, he defended her in public, but the things he said to her at home when he thought I wasn’t listening …”

Oh, Marshall.Shannon squeezed his hand in solidarity. “That’s awful.”

He gazed up at the sky dotted with clouds that blocked the light from the moon and stars. “That’s not even the worst part. My mom got depressed, unable to get out of bed, and Dad worked more, if that were possible. All of their friends took sides against each other. It was like a civil war in Blakestown.”

His thumb skimmed the top of her hand, and more goosebumps raced up her back even though she was nestled solidly in Marshall’s embrace. Still, she used the excuse to snuggle closer. “I can see now why you dislike small towns so much.” Shannon placed her other hand on his chest, which echoed the rise and fall of her own. “And then you moved to New York, right? Did your parents share custody?”

“I spent summers back in Iowa for the first few years, but I was so mad at my dad that those months were pretty miserable. After that, he pretty much gave up on me and let me live full time with Mom.”

“Do you and your dad still talk?”

“Not since my mom’s funeral.”

What? Not once had Marshall indicated his mom had died. “Marshall, I’m so sorry.”

“I was twenty by that time, and there was a car accident. She died on impact, so at least she didn’t suffer. But man, how she suffered in the years leading up to that. In a way, she died long before that accident. The happy mom I knew, anyway.”

His voice cracked. “So when Dad showed up at her funeral in his crisp suit, all put together and pretending to grieve, I … I just couldn’t take it, you know? Something inside me snapped and I told him to get out. That he’d killed her. That if he hadn’t allowed us to be chased out of town nine years before that, she never would have been on that icy road in New York in the first place. And then I said that I never wanted to see him again.”

Tears streamed down Shannon’s face, and she couldn’t say a word—just slipped her hand around his waist and squeezed.

“It was a terrible thing to say. I know that.” Marshall laced Shannon’s fingers together with his own. “But he didn’t even argue with me. Just left, like I was doing him a favor by telling him to go.”

“And you really haven’t seen him since?” She couldn’t imagine.

“No. Last I heard from one of my friends back in Iowa, my dad eventually moved to Los Angeles to work as an attorney at a big law firm.”

Ah. Now she understood why California was not his favorite place. “It’s probably weird being in the same state as him, huh?”

He shrugged. “Yeah, I guess. I try not to think about what it would be like to waltz into his office and give him a piece of my mind.”

“I can’t understand why he’d move so far from you.” What parent would do that?

“He’s just a jerk who only cares about himself.” Marshall shook his head. “When Mom and I first moved away, I begged him to come with us to New York, to forget everything that all those Blakestown gossips had said. But he wouldn’t do it. Either his reputation and his job mattered too much to him … or we didn’t matter enough.”

“But I’m sure he loved you, in his own way.” What parent didn’t? But then again, Julie Robinson had left sweet Noah behind for her own selfish reasons.

“If so, he had a funny way of showing it.” Marshall shifted on the platform. “I sometimes worry that I’ve turned out exactly like him. Even when I don’t want it, his voice is in my head, telling me to go further, to do more. To be better. But I want to scream back that he wasn’t better. That his reputation meant more to him than his family, the people he supposedly loved.”

What could she say to ease the ache in his voice? As she considered her next words, crickets chirped, surrounding them with a natural chorus that was always there but only audible when they quieted to listen.

Shannon sat up so she could look Marshall in the eyes, so he could see her face and know she meant what she was about to say. “Marshall St. John, I may have only known you for a little while, but my heart feels like it knows yours. And what I see is a good man. Maybe your priorities are a little skewed, but the great thing about priorities is they can be changed.”

She pointed gently at his chest, then spread her fingers over the place where his heart beat steadily beneath. “You have the power to change them. So did your dad. But you aren’t him. You can make a different choice. Choose a life steeped in love, not achievement. Because at the end of the day, achievement will only get you so far, and you might not like the loneliness of that place once you get there.”

The sharp look in his eyes speared her. She inhaled the smell of loamy dirt rising from the park. “Now come on. I’ll race you to the swings.” Easing past him, she took the slide, which twisted a few times before her toes hit the grainy sand. She took off running toward the three metal swings blowing in the breeze, their chains squeaking ever so slightly.

In a few moments, she sensed him behind her and picked up the pace. Just before she reached the swings, he caught her around the waist and tickled her again. Then he touched the cold tip of his nose against her neck, hugging her close from behind.

“Thanks, Shannon.” His warm breath caressed her before he let go and settled himself onto a swing.

“You’re welcome.” She sat on the swing next to him.

They rocked in silence for a few moments before Marshall spoke again. “So you got to hear all of my family drama. How about you?”

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