Page 26 of Embers in Autumn
“We fought. A lot. About money, about auditions she wanted to chase, about late nights she disappeared. One day she dropped Lana at my sister’s house. Said she needed a few hours to herself. She never came back.”
The memory landed sharp, even after all these years. I swallowed hard, forcing the words out.
“Three years later, I saw her on a TV screen. Small role in a popular series. Smiling like she’d won the world. And all I could think was, if she had told me that’s what she wanted, I would have quit the job tomorrow. Packed us up. Moved across the damn country to support her. She never gave me the chance. She just left. And the worst part?”
My voice roughened, anger tightening it. “She didn’t just leave me. She left Lana. Walked away from her own daughter like she was disposable.”
Amber sucked in a breath, her fork clattering softly against her plate. Her eyes had gone glossy, reflecting back a pain I knew she understood too well.
I set the glass down, flexing my hands against the table, steadying myself. “That’s why I don’t talk about it much. Because every time I do, I think about a little girl sitting on my sister’scouch, asking when her mom was coming back. And I didn’t have an answer.”
I met Amber’s gaze then, let her see it all. The scars, the fury, the truth.
“And I swore from that day, nobody gets to hurt her again. Nobody gets to decide she’s not worth showing up for. Not while I’m alive.”
Amber’s lips parted, her chest rising on a shuddered breath. And for a long moment, the room was quiet except for the faint ticking of the cooling oven.
CHAPTER 8
Amber
Sunday morning came soft and still, the kind of quiet that clung to the walls of my little apartment. I sat at the kitchen table with my coffee, steam curling up in front of me, and yet somehow Dean’s ghost was still there.
What had I been thinking, inviting him over for pie? God. That line screamedI’m alone and horny.If he had been any less of a gentleman, I might have regretted it the second the words left my mouth.
But he had been a gentleman. More than that. And the memory of his mouth on mine, the way he had kissed me like he had been starving for it, still pulsed through me. My stomach fluttered at the thought, butterflies I thought had died with my last relationship suddenly alive again.
If the oven had not ticked its warning, startling us both back into reality, I was ready to give in. Right there in the kitchen. My back against the counter, his hands everywhere, the pie forgotten.
Smiling, I wrapped both hands around the mug, grounding myself in its warmth. The kiss had been intense, but it was what came after that left me unsettled in the best way. The way he talked. The things he shared. He could have brushed me off, steered the night back into lightness. But instead, he laid pieces of himself on the table, scars and all.
It made me think that maybe he wasn’t the kind of man who disappeared after a night of heat. And maybe not the kind who lingered just long enough to take and never give back.
I lifted the mug to my lips and closed my eyes. For the first time in a long time, the memory of a man did not leave me hollow. It left me hopeful.
My mug was still warm in my hands when my phone buzzed against the table. I jumped, nearly spilling coffee down my sweater. The screen lit up with his name.
Dean:Good morning.
Just two words, simple, but they sent a shiver down my spine. I set the mug aside, thumb hovering, before typing back.
Amber:Morning. Already saving the town from floods and fires?
It only took a second.
Dean:Day off. Thought I’d start it the right way. By texting the woman who makes the best pie I’ve ever had.
I rolled my eyes but grinned at the same time.
Amber:Pretty sure it was the ice cream that carried it. You picked a good one.
Dean:Wrong. It was you.
I stared at the words, heat rising in my cheeks. I typed slower this time.
Amber:Careful, firefighter. Flattery will get you everywhere.
Dean:Everywhere? I like the sound of that.
