Page 57 of Home Sweet Home

“Evie’s my assistant coach,” West said. “I’ve known this woman since we were in high school. Drove her to school.”

“Which means it’s a miracle I’m even alive for you to meet me,” Evie said. “He’s a terrible driver. Just the worst. Don’t put that in the article.”

“Charming,” Regina said with a smile that told Evie she meant it. “And I’ll keep that in mind.” She looked around the diner, pointing to an empty booth by the front window. It was one of Evie’s favorites because it was huge and a great spot to people watch. “That table open?”

Evie nodded. “Go ahead and sit down. Be right with you.”

With Regina gone, it was just the two of them, and a moment of silence passed before West said, “I hope it’s all right I brought her here. She suggested it. Apparently looked up Yelp reviews.”

“Of course it’s fine.” Evie put on a smile, but unease had settled in her stomach, not at Regina the woman, but Regina the reporter. She was here to write an article that was supposed to get West his job back, and West getting his job back meant him being over two thousand miles away from her. But she pushed aside the feeling. “Joe’s has Yelp reviews?”

“Four of them.” West laughed. “Thinking I might write one myself. Great burgers and hot waitresses. What more could you want in a diner?”

When he said it, she couldn’t concentrate on anything other than how good he looked in his T-shirt and how desperate she was to see what he looked like underneath it.

As if he could read her mind, he added, “Want to come over later? I have a surprise for you.”

Evie nodded, unable to find words because her mind was entirely occupied by what this surprise could be—and what she hoped it was. West smiled then glanced toward Regina, who was perusing Joe’s menu with a face entirely too serious for the Lumberjack Special.

“Gotta go,” he said, tilting his head toward her. “See you at practice and then tonight?”

“See you tonight,” she said.

As he walked away, he kept his eyes on her for as long as possible before turning around and settling into the booth.

CHAPTERSEVENTEEN

In the caron the way home from work, Evie picked apart the feeling that had come over her when she saw West with Regina. It wasn’t jealousy. Evie liked Regina. She’d spent the better part of an hour waiting on Regina and West while they talked over burgers and milkshakes, with Regina’s phone recording the whole time. Regina was funny and nice, and she had tipped very well.

Then Evie realized she’d let herself forget the reason she’d told Kayla she didn’t want to get involved with West in the first place. He was going to leave Creek Water behind like a bad memory the second the season was over and he had what he’d come for. As she drove, anger rose in her, tightening every muscle in her body. Her fingers gripped the steering wheel so hard, her knuckles blanched. At first, she wondered if she was angry at West, but even though she didn’t understand why he wanted to go back so badly after everything he’d told her, she knew it wasn’t fair. He’d never made any promises to her. When he’d first arrived, he’d told her exactly why he was there, what he was doing, and how long it would take.

Evie wasn’t angry at anyone but herself, for allowing herself to think, even for a few days, that maybe things could be different. And as Evie turned the corner onto her street, her breath caught in her throat.

There was a navy-blue van in her driveway. Evie pulled in behind it, her stomach sinking as she put her car in park. Maybe she had it wrong. Maybe Josh had a friend over who drove a van. But she knew that wasn’t true.

When Evie stepped into her house, Mark Cauley was on the couch. He looked exactly the same as she remembered, his auburn hair streaked with strands of gray, a smattering of freckles over the bridge of his nose just like the ones that dotted hers, but when he grinned at the sight of her, his teeth were yellower. “It’s my best girl.”

Evie kicked off her shoes by the door, her insides twisting at the familiar phrase. The few times he was around when she was younger, he would greet her the same way when she got home from school, his arms outstretched as she hopped off the bus and bolted for him. He would lift her into the air and spin her around like a helicopter rotor. “What do you want?”

He opened his arms, but the last thing she wanted to do was hug him. “Hey, now. Not a ‘Hi, Dad’ or a ‘How are ya, Dad?’”

Evie sighed, hugging herself instead, her arms wrapping around her stomach like armor. “Hi, Dad. What do you want?”

He perched on the edge of the armchair, a half-drunk beer bottle sweating on the end table, a stack of coasters right next to it. “What? I need a reason to stop by and see my kids?”

When did he last ‘stop by’?Her mom had still been alive, because Evie had been about to graduate. They’d been discussing what kind of cake to make for Evie’s party, and her dad had knocked on the door, nothing but a backpack in his hand and smelling like he’d marinated himself in tequila. He’d stayed for a few days on the couch, and when she’d crept toward the kitchen to get a glass of water in the middle of the night, she’d overheard him asking her mom for five hundred dollars. Evie didn’t know if her mom had given it to him or not, but the next morning, his van was gone from the driveway when she woke up. “Dad. I haven’t seen you in seven years.”

“I know, kiddo. Time’s slippery. But I was passing through on my way to North Carolina and thought I’d pop in.”

“Where’s Barb?” Evie asked. In the last text he’d sent her, he’d had his arm around the woman in the photo.

It took him a beat too long to realize who she was talking about, and when he did, he laughed. “Hell if I know. I think she fell in with this biker group in Colorado.”

“Sounds about right.” Evie walked into the kitchen. The second she’d stepped into her house and seen him, she knew that this situation, maybe more than any other in her life, needed alcohol. She opened the fridge and reached for a beer from the six-pack she’d just bought, but the cardboard holder was empty. Her dad must have taken the last bottle. She settled for a glass of water from the tap. Her hands shook as she held the glass under the streaming faucet.

“Hey,” her dad said behind her. He’d followed her into the kitchen, his hands in his pockets.

Evie sipped her water and steeled herself up for whatever he was going to ask her for.

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