Smoke and Fire (Surrender to Them 1)

One month later

“Glendale.” I squeezed Chase’s hand. “This is where I grew up.”

“You’re strong.” Chase leaned over and kissed my forehead. “You can do this.”

“We’re going to be with you every step of the way.” Chase took one hand off the steering wheel and reached for my other hand.

I tried to convince myself that I could just ignore the monster in Glendale. I hid behind a mask of laughter when I could. When that wasn’t enough, I chased passion with the two wonderful men that were so eager to share it with me. The reality came crashing down on me every time they left for work and I was alone. I even tried to bury myself in my work, but it wasn’t stimulating enough to stop my mind from racing. The news story about the fire faded from the news, but people still talked. I learned to ignore them. It might have been harder if I didn’t have a much bigger weight on my shoulders. I finally succumbed to the inevitable and agreed to return to Glendale with Trent and Chase by my side. It was time to stop being Kayla Lewis for a while and face the monster that drove Hannah Summers to Chicago in the first place.

Before I can do that, I have to go see my parents—and my brothers too, I guess.

I wasn’t brave enough to just show up at my parents’ house with two men. I had no idea how I would manage to explain that. We came up with a few scenarios, but I really didn’t want to walk in the front door telling lies, so we agreed that Trent would be the one to go with me. I think Chase was nervous about meeting my parents, so he was happy to shift the weight over to Trent. It didn’t help that Chase struggled to actually call me Hannah. He slipped up every time we practiced, which would only confuse my parents even more if he managed to blurt it out in their presence. Chase checked into a hotel and Trent drove me to my parents’ house. I was nervous and my stomach was in knots, but Trent held my hand as we walked up the old, familiar steps I never thought I would see again.

“I guess I should knock.” I looked over at Trent.

“I think it’s going to be confusing either way, but probably less confusing if you don’t just open the door and walk in. Plus, what if they’ve moved?” He smiled and squeezed my hand. “You got this. This is the easy part.”

I wish.

It was a heartfelt, tear-soaked reunion. My parents were so happy to see me that they didn’t ask any questions at first. They just hugged me and cried. When we finally got past the point of hugging, my mother quickly darted into the other room to call my brothers. They were both away at college and it would take them a couple of hours to get home, but they were eager to see me as well. I introduced Trent as my boyfriend, and my parents were very excited when they found out he was a firefighter. I even told them the truth about how we met—except for how the fire actually started, which made them his biggest fan. Eventually, all of us sat down at the kitchen table, and I knew it was time for the hard part of the conversation to start.

“You never called—not even o

nce.” My mother exhaled sharply and shook her head. “We prayed you were still alive out there somewhere, but we worried constantly. We even called the police, but they wouldn’t do anything when they read your letter.”

“It was a terrible thing to do. I know.” I nodded and sighed. “I was a stupid teenager that felt like I needed to get away and find my place in the world.”

That’s as close to the truth as I can get.

“Your room is exactly how you left it.” My father folded his arms across his chest. “We kept hoping you would come home one day. I’ll admit that I stopped believing that would ever happen after a couple of years went by without a word—not even a letter letting us know you were okay.”

“I can’t fix what I did.” I felt tears welling up in my eyes, but Trent took my hand and lightly caressed it.

“She’s here now.” Trent looked at my father and then to my mother. “You have your daughter back. We can dwell on the past or we can look forward. Obviously, she regrets what happened.”

“I do.” I nodded quickly. “I know it doesn’t make sense—just know that I love both of you very much.”

“So, why now?” My father narrowed his eyes. “Are you pregnant or something?”

“What? No.” I shook my head back and forth. “We’ve only been together for a little over a month.”

“Do you need money?” My mother instinctively looked over at her purse. “We don’t have much, but I’ll give you whatever I can.”

“We don’t need anything.” Trent squeezed my hand as he spoke. “Hannah is here because she wants to make things right.”

“You speak for her a lot.” My father’s jaw tensed. “Especially for someone that has only been with her a month.”

“Mr. Summers, I love your daughter. I know you do, too. She’s been through a lot and this isn’t easy.” Trent exhaled through his nose and I could sense him growing impatient with my parents.

“Trent is the one that helped me find the courage to come back home.” I looked at Trent and smiled. “I was scared. I know it hurt you when I left, and I dreaded this moment. If it wasn’t for him, I would have never found the courage to be sitting at this table right now.”

Or the courage to do what comes next.

My parents finally seemed to relax. My brothers arrived and I was surprised to see the men they had become. They were the spitting image of my father and looked like they could have been twins. I hadn’t noticed that when I was younger. More tears were shed and then we had to say goodbye. My parents wanted us to stay with them, but I knew that wasn’t possible with what I had to do once I left their house. We promised to stop by again the next day and see them again before we returned to Chicago. I promised to call, write, email, and come home for Christmas. That was enough for my mother to finally let go of my hand and wave to me as we walked back to Trent’s truck.

“Are you ready?” He looked over at me as he cranked it up.

“Yes.” I nodded and sighed. “Let’s go get Chase.”