Page 36 of Mine For The Winter

Kelly let out a long breath. “It seems that Cole has a thing for him. Keeps following him around. Took his old hockey jersey.”

“Without asking?”

Kelly shook her head. “Oh no, he asked, and Kris said yes. Apparently he also saw a photo of me, Kris, and Lyle at prom.”

“Oh.” Amber pulled her lip between her teeth. “Did the three of you go together? I can’t remember.”

She and Amber hadn’t been friends back in those days. Amber had probably been away at college then, anyway. And for some reason, even though she told Amber everything else, she hadn’t given her the full details of what went down before Kris left.

Maybe she didn’t want her friend to think badly of her.

“Yeah.” The same way they always did everything as a trio. Except play hockey. The coach wouldn’t have let Kelly get away with that, even if she maintained that she could easily have whooped half their opposition teams.

“I guess it’s only natural,” Amber said.

“What is?”

“That Cole’s curious. He never sees Lyle and that must be hard on him. He’s getting older, becoming a man. He wants to know where he’s from.”

“He could have asked me.” Kelly swallowed.

“Yeah, but maybe he doesn’t want to upset you. Kris is removed from the situation. He’s not related to Cole, and he doesn’t have an emotional reaction to Lyle.”

Kelly blinked. There was a truth to Amber’s words that made her chest ache. “He wants Kris to watch his game on Saturday.”

Amber’s eyes softened. “And is he going?”

“I think so.” Kelly’s chest felt tight. “I don’t know if it’s the right thing to do.”

“That’s the problem with being parents,” Amber said, her gaze full of understanding. “None of us really know what we’re doing. One minute we’re kids without a clue, the next minute somebody’s putting this tiny human life in our arms and telling us we’re responsible for keeping it alive for the next eighteen years.”

Kelly chuckled. There was a truth in Amber’s words. “Do you ever hear from Shaun?” she asked. Like Kelly, Amber had an ex and a mutual child.

“Not since he signed the adoption papers. He was pretty stoked at giving up his parental rights to North.”

Lyle had never given up his rights to Cole. He’d just disappeared and left them to it. Loved the bottle more than he loved them.

Though sometimes she wondered if he’d ever loved them at all.

“Kris wants to talk to me about the past.” It came out in a rush, like she’d been storing it for too long and it had grown too big to keep inside of her.

For a moment Amber said nothing. Just looked at her with compassion in her eyes. And then she reached out and touched Kelly’s shoulder. “Maybe you should. I don’t know what’s going on but you’ve been strange ever since he came back.”

Amber didn’t say anything else. That was one of the things Kelly loved about her. She didn’t pry, she was just there when you needed her.

Kelly’s phone beeped and she pulled it out, seeing a message from her dad. And it reminded her that she needed to get to the Tavern before they opened. She had some documents to find.

“I gotta go,” she said, leaning forward to kiss Amber’s cheek. “Thank you. I love you.”

“I love you, too.” Amber winked at her. “Now stop worrying about things you can’t control.”

11

Kelly, Age 18

“Have you heard from Kris?” She felt stupid asking Lyle, but if anybody had, it would be him. Kris had left for college two weeks ago, and she hated him being away.

Lyle started working at Walker Woods a month ago. He got his first pay check and he’d told her he was treating them both to dinner in Marshall’s Gap. He’d picked her up from her house in his beaten up Ford truck, and was playing country music as he drove through the winding streets.

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