Prologue
“Sawyer, can you come talk to me before you go to your room?”
Sawyer Brennan had just shut the front door after walking home from school. His father was home recovering from a broken leg and called out to him.
“What’s up?” Sawyer asked.
“Come sit down,” his father said.
Sean Brennan was a big guy with red hair and a scruffy red beard. He fit the role of a truck driver in Sawyer’s mind, but with a busted leg, he was riding the couch for a few more weeks instead of his big rig. Sawyer only hoped the accident where his father was speeding and lost control of his vehicle didn’t cause him to lose his job on top of it.
“Everything okay?” he asked.
“Your mother is gone,” his father said.
“Gone where?” he asked. His father looked pissed off more than sad. It surprised him because his father put up with his mother more than he thought most would, saying he loved her too much to let her go.
“She moved out,” his father said.
“Huh?”
“She’s moving in with someone else,” his father said.
Sawyer had heard the rumors at school. In a small town it was hard to hide the things that happened. More so when they fed a juicy grapevine of deceit and betrayal.
“The guy you were chasing when you got in your accident?”
His father held his stare. “What did you hear?”
“Does it matter?” he asked.
“I want to know,” his father said. “I know you’re going to hear all sorts of things and I’d rather you know the truth.”
That was one thing he could respect about his father. That he told the truth when asked. Too bad he wasn’t around much to talk to and that was why many said his mother strayed as much as she had over the years.
“That you caught her with someone when you came home early two weeks ago.”
He’d been spending the night at a friend’s house. When his mother picked him up the next morning and told him about his father’s accident he’d been stunned. He hadn’t known his father was due back until later that night. He’d thought the accident was work related but soon found out otherwise.
“Yes,” his father said. “Your mother said you were staying at Dan’s and I figured I’d surprise her. I haven’t been around much. Guess I was the one that got the surprise.”
“And you were chasing after him and crashed?” he asked. “Are you going to lose your job?”
“Yes, I was chasing after him. No man should go after another man’s woman. Remember that.”
In his mind, maybe that woman didn’t want to be with one man and if that was the case, wasn’t it the woman’s fault too? His fifteen-year-old brain knew what he knew and heard.
If someone he was with wanted another man, more power to her. He wasn’t fighting for her. He wasn’t chasing any guy down and he sure the heck wouldn’t stay with that woman and put up with it.
No way, not when he kept hearing what a fool his father was for sticking around for years.
But they were rumors and maybe they were wrong. Though it didn’t seem it now.
“Well, if she did it to you, she’ll do it to him,” Sawyer said.
His father held his stare still. Now there seemed to be nothing more than tiredness behind the big guy’s eyes.
“You’re probably right. We all make our decisions in life. She made hers and I’m sitting here getting a numb ass for a few more weeks due to mine.”