I pushed the button to start it. “I know.”
She nodded, shut my door, and took Evelyn’s hand. I put the car into drive, fighting the swell of trepidation that rolled over the top of me when I caught sight of Caleb where he stood against a pillar on the front porch.
I knew he’d spoken to Ryder. Knew he’d been wrought with a brand-new turmoil after, even though he hadn’t offered me any more details.
I forced myself to drive.
Kayden fell asleep during the thirty-mile trip back into town, while I silently cried, unable to keep the worries or thoughts or heartbreak at bay.
I was thankful when I finally pulled into the café parking lot. It was already packed with Sunday evening dinner guests. I drove through and rounded the small road that led to my house.
The second I turned off the car to the overbearing silence, I decided to run to the restaurant to make sure things were going smoothly. Or maybe it was just that it made me sick to think of going into the vacancy of my little house.
Nauseous to think of returning to the way things had been before I’d left here two weeks ago.
Only things would never be the same, would they? I’d forever be marked with Ryder’s love and eternally scarred by his betrayal.
I pulled Kayden out of his seat and carried him into the café. Everyone always fawned over him whenever he came in, and Beth took him while I went into the office so I could print out the recipe for the breakfast special tomorrow so the cooks would have it first thing in the morning.
I found I wasn’t settled being in the restaurant, either, so I quickly worked through a few tasks and headed back out into the main dining room, promising my staff I would see them in the morning.
By the time I stepped back out, the sun had begun its descent toward the west. The air cooled even farther, a gentle breeze gliding through that tickled across my skin.
Somehow, it churned as an unease in my senses.
A sticky sensation that nothing was right.
Or maybe it was just what was waiting on me that sent queasiness rushing through my body.
A dread I’d all but forgotten over the last couple days.
Because when I opened the gate, I found Trey sitting on the single step of my stoop, resting his elbows on his thighs, bent over like he was torn between two worlds, too.
I froze while his head snapped up. He blinked through uncertainty while I fought the urge to turn and run. To refuse him the right to Kayden because I didn’t think I could handle losing anything else right then. Not moments or days or peace because I didn’t know this man at all, and I had no idea what kind of father he would be.
But I couldn’t move, and it felt like my feet had grown roots as I stared across at him for the longest time. But his attention wasn’t on me. It was on Kayden who pointed at him from where he was in my arms. “Look it, Mommy. A man.”
And that man slowly stood, itching, roughing a hand over the top of his head. “I’m sorry to show like this. I just…took the chance you might be home.” He let go of a self-deprecating laugh. “Of course, I’ve been sitting here for the last three hours after I knocked and no one answered.”
I finally got myself together enough that I moved, though I inched down the pathway like I was tiptoeing through landmines. “You should have gotten in contact with me first.”
He dipped his head, scruffing a palm over his face before he returned his gaze to us. “I know. I just…couldn’t stop thinking about him. Couldn’t get him off my mind. And I knew I had to meet him.”
Reservations gusted, but I still kept walking. Two feet away from him, I stopped, staring at the stranger’s face. “Okay. But anything beyond this has to be planned if we’re going to figure this out.”
“Thank you.”
My throat felt thick as I wound around him and took the one step onto the stoop where I pushed the key into the lock and opened the door. Emptiness echoed back, and I had to brace myself against the impact of it.
I stepped in and Trey came in behind me. He shut the door, and I frowned when he reached out and locked it. Disquiet pressed at my senses, the blunt force of a dull, rusted blade.
“I always knew you were the key,” he rumbled when he turned back to me.
I took a step backward, hugging Kayden tighter against my chest. “What are you talking about?”
“I couldn’t have hoped for a better outcome when you got pregnant,” he continued. “I figured the day would come when you became useful. I knew Ryder would forget the warning I’d given him that day. You know, I just had a sense that he was about to get up to no good. I’m good with foresight like that. Can tell when people are questioning their loyalty. It’s why no one can touch me. So I sent one of my guys to sniff things out over here. Stir things up to see what Ryder would do.”