Southern Sunrise (Southern 4)

“But …” she says, and it’s Beau who puts his arm around her shoulder.

“Sweetheart,” he says her name softly. “She’s moved on.”

“I have moved on. I’m engaged to a wonderful man. I’m finally happy,” I say, and she looks at me, putting her hand on my cheek.

“Not once did you say you didn’t love him,” she points out, and I’m about to say something, but she doesn’t stop. “A love that deep and that strong doesn’t ever go away.”

“It was easy enough for him to stop loving me,” I remind her, even though the last thing I want to do is shit on Ethan

“He’s back, and he’s going to explain everything,” she says. Shaking my head, I feel arms around me and see that it’s Chelsea trying to give me strength.

“There is nothing to explain,” I say. “I don’t want to hear anything he has to say.” I look at Beau. “Nothing he can say will make what he did to me okay.” I try not to break down. “He left me. He tossed his cell phone out the window and drove out of town,” I say, and she nods. “He didn’t see me run after his truck. He didn’t hear me yell his name until my voice was so raw I couldn’t swallow for two days. He. Didn’t. Care.”

“Emily,” Beau says softly.

“I’m happy your son is back,” I say, and then I look at Chelsea, who is wiping away her own tears. “I’m happy your brother is back, but that is where it stops.”

“Okay,” Savannah says, and then I hear a truck coming. I look over my shoulder and see that it’s Casey’s blue Range Rover.

I release Savannah’s hands when she whispers her son’s name. She drops my hand and walks across the lawn toward the car. I watch as Ethan gets out of the truck, and I hear Beau from beside me. “I’ll do what I can do,” he says softly. “To get her not to bring it up.”

“Don’t worry about it,” I say, turning and walking slowly away at the same time Savannah sobs as Ethan takes her in his arms. She grips on to him, saying his name over and over again as I get in my car. I start the car and drive off, away from the man who broke me, away from the man who shattered my heart, away from the man I thought I hated.

Chapter Six

Ethan

I watch her walk to her car with her head down, and everything in my body and my head is telling me to run after her. But my mother’s in my arms, clawing at me, so I focus on her.

Fifteen minutes ago, I stood in front of the diner, and Casey told me she was gone. It cut me off at the knees in more ways than one. I put my hand to my chest to stop the pain from shooting through me, taking a step back.

“What?” I whispered, and for the first time in five years, I had regrets. For the first time in five years, I was brought back to the memory of when I left. I blocked it out, blocked it all out for the last five years, and now I was back there. “When? How?”

“You don’t care. At least that’s what you said, isn’t it?” He looked at me while I glared at him and tried to steady my heart rate. “You wrote them off five years ago, didn’t you?” I advanced on him, and he didn’t move an inch. He didn’t even flinch. “I believe what you said was you had no family.”

“I’m not playing with you,” I hissed, standing toe-to-toe with him. “Where is she?”

“Dad,” Quinn said from beside him.

“She’s gone for the weekend,” he said, and the tightness in my body went away like a huge sigh of relief. “I’ll call her now and see where she is.” He took his phone out, and he called her right away. “I’ll be right over.” He hung up. “She’s home.” I just nodded at him and walked over to the truck, getting into the back. No one said anything as we made our way to the house that I left five years ago.

It had been five years, but it felt like yesterday. My heart sped up as we made our way to the house. Not my house, not my mother’s house, not my family’s house—just the house. When he turned on the street, if I didn’t know any better, I would have thought I was having a panic attack. I reverted to my training, but nothing, nothing could prepare me for the sight before me.

Beau with his arm around my mother’s shoulder and her face streaked with tears. She looked the same, but you could see the pain in her eyes. It hit me that I put that pain there. I did that. But I didn’t stare at her for too long. Instead, I looked at Chelsea with her arm around Emily, who didn’t turn and look at me. My mother saw me first, her eyes meeting mine. She walked to me in a daze, her hand on her mouth as she tried to keep the sob at bay, but it roared out of her.