“I only met her on Christmas Eve,” Cole said.
“So?”
“So I can’t marry her when we just met.”
Norah dusted flecks of nothing off the armrest of her couch. “At least Brooke would get the hint. Sounds like you need to keep your focus on where it really matters and stop meddling so much with your ex.”
Focus on what really matters. On Saylor.
That was exactly the problem. He’d been trying to focus on her. What was he supposed to do when she pushed him away? He still couldn’t get over the sting of her words from earlier that morning.
No one. He’s no one.
Jack and Norah’s advice was spot on as usual. The negotiator in him couldn’t leave things with Saylor like this. The least he could do was follow Jack and Norah’s counsel.
The wounded ex-husband in him was more cautious. Was this some kind of proverbial red flag, indicating he was headed for another disastrous relationship? It was true, he wanted to find out what was really bothering Saylor, but how could he do that if she flat out rejected him?
Cole stood, holding the plate slathered with uneaten apple pie in his hands. “Thank you—you’ve given me quite a bit to think about.”
He needed some time to mull this over. He needed to decide what to do.
“While I’m all for creating scandals with elopements, and running away to be with your true love, it doesn’t mean you have to do it right this second,” said Norah. She fluttered her hand at him as though waving away an invisible fire. “Sit down and eat your pie.”
Chapter Eighteen
The anger in Saylor’s chest was positively flaring. She glared at the pill bottle in her brother’s hands. “Same old Greg,” she snarled. She couldn’t believe she’d dismissed Cole the way she had. But she couldn’t handle this, not in front of him, and she hadn’t wanted to give Greg a single clue about who the other man was.
“I can’t do this,” she said, pulse ratcheting. “I can’t be around you. You’re ruining your life, and I can’t have you around my son. Do you even know what kind of example you’re setting for him? I can’t believe Mom and Dad are still letting you do that garbage in their home.”
Greg’s mouth dropped wide open. “These are a prescription for migraines,” he insisted. “See? I swear, I only take the recommended dose.”
Saylor closed her eyes. She’d heard it all before, back when she was dating Caleb. Even though it’d been thirteen years, the ragged emotions were resurfacing, rearing their ugly heads, scraping her raw. It was too real, even now. She’d sunk so low into depression, so low into hopelessness, and she had been fighting against those feelings every day since.
Every time she saw her brother, and especially now, seeing him with a pill bottle in his hands, those memories scratched their way from where she’d buried them. Veritable zombies, trailing her, not leaving her be.
She knew it made no sense. She couldn’t keep blaming Greg for what happened. The choice she’d made was her own, no one else’s. It was so much easier to blame someone else.
“Saylor.” Her mom’s voice was a lullaby behind her. “You’ve got to let this go. He’s trying to change. He’s been seeing counselors, and his therapist says he’s shown real improvement.”
Her mother’s excuses sounded like just that. Excuses. So many other arguments shouted as loud as billboards, mixing with clichés. A leopard couldn’t change its spots, and neither could her brother give up something he’d made evident countless times he was unable to let go.
Anger won the battle inside of her. She stormed into the kitchen. Lifted her son from the barstool.
Parker let off a small, “Hey!”
Saylor kissed him on the cheek, set him on the floor, and tugged him along as she stormed through the living room, gathering her things, gathering Parker’s things. Fortunately, Greg didn’t follow.
Her mother did. She gave Saylor a look Saylor had seen many times. It wasn’t the look alone—it was the combination of folded arms and reeking disappointment.
“I don’t want Parker around him,” Saylor said in explanation to the patronizing glance.
“That’s a choice you’ll have to make,” said her mom. “Either way, you’ve got to forgive him. It’s the only way your heart will ever truly heal.”
The words stung right to Saylor’s eyes. She clung to Parker, holding him so, so tightly before letting him wiggle away. She knew her mom was right. Deep down inside of her, she knew it would also be better for her. But how could she manage it?
Her mom rested a hand on her back, seeming to sense Saylor’s anguish. “You changed. Give your brother a chance to do the same.”
Memory resurfaced, clearer and sharper than she’d felt in a long time. It was sore muscles and stiffness. It was manic pacing, sobbing, and wailing. It was why she stayed away from him. It was why she’d moved to Twin Falls. This agonizing, dulling, painful memory of the time she’d nearly taken her own life using her brother’s drugs.
They’d been easy to access. Saylor had known right where they were. Greg had made no secret of his disgusting habit, and when Caleb had broken up with her...
Greg appeared behind her mother, his face barely visible below the unseemly beard. She couldn’t mistake the pleading in his eyes for anything but pain. Pain that strangely enough mimicked her own.
“Saylor,” Greg pleaded.
The same tug her mother’s convincing words had yanked on her heartstrings dragged again, but Saylor’s resolve smothered them back.
“I can’t do this. Come on, Parks.” She practically shoved her boy out into the snow.
“I don’t have my coat on yet, Mommy.”
A different wave of guilt struck her. What kind of mother was she, forcing her son out into frigid temperatures without letting him prepare first? She squeezed her eyes closed, before opening them and picking him up. “You can do it in the car.”
The snowy air was an
