Page 46 of Best Kept Vows

“I do.”

CHAPTER 18

Sebastian

The silence at home was deafening.

Lia’s absence was immense. Even when we’d been at our worst, she was still here. A presence in the same space. Now, it was just me and the quiet, and I hated it.

I was standing in the kitchen, staring blankly at the half-empty coffee pot that we’d shared this morning when the doorbell rang.

I opened it to find Ada standing on the porch, sunglasses perched on her head, a tote bag slung over one shoulder, and resolve in her eyes.

“Hey.” I hugged her and held on for a long moment. “I love that you’re here, but?—”

“Mama told us to check in on you.” She sidestepped me and went into the kitchen. “Damn, I was hoping you had coffee.”

“I’ll make a fresh pot.” As I did that, Ada sat on abarstool at the kitchen counter. The same one Lia had been sitting on before she left.

“How are you doin’, Dad?”

I shrugged. I didn’t know what to say. I was surprised that Lia had told Ada and Tristan, or maybe I wasn’t so surprised. They were close. There was a time when we wereallclose, but I’d squandered that away in the past three years.

Ada studied me thoughtfully. “You have the look of a lost puppy.”

I let out a low chuckle. “I’m going to be fine, Ada. Your mama and I are going to be fine.”

“Uh-huh.” She pulled out her phone and called her brother. “Hey, Tris, putting you on video.”

“Dad, how’s it going?” Tristan’s face filled the phone screen.

While Ada looked like Lia, Tristan was all me. Dark hair, blue eyes, and that nose, which was a Boone family male trait.

“Son.”

It was odd as heck that my kids were taking care of me when my wife left me. It was all kinds of fucked up that they were playing parent to my broken heart.

“How is New York?” I decided to change the subject.

But my son wasn’t having any of it. “Mama said she packed enough for a couple of months.”

“Yeah.”

“So, that’s just two months.Sixty days,” Tristan pointed out.

A lifetime!

The machine dinged, indicating the coffee was ready. I poured two cups and handed one to Ada.

Ada added, “Dad, you ignored her for three years. I think it’s okay if she needs time to figure out her priorities. “

But what if she never comes back? How the fuck am I going to survive?

“I know. And I’m…supportive of what she needs to do.” I gripped the edge of the counter, my knuckles white. “Kids, I don’t want to discuss our marriage with you. It’s?—”

“Oh, please, Dad, don’t start the wholethis is inappropriateshit,” Tristan pleaded.

“Tristan, I?—”