Page 48 of Mended Fences

The tenderness in her voice finally gave me the courage to look at her. She was still in her scrubs, hair slightly messy like she’d been running her hands through it. Dark circles under her eyes matched my own, but it was what I saw in those eyes that stole my breath.

When our gazes met, it wasn’t pity or apathy I saw.

It was so much more.

Sadness.

Regret.

Hope.

Love.

The word hung between us, unspoken but impossible to ignore, like a physical presence in the stool on my other side at the bar. Behind us, someone fed quarters into the ancient jukebox, and the opening notes of some sad country song filled the air.Fitting.

“Chase...” Elena’s voice cracked on my name. She reached for my hand but stopped halfway, her fingers hovering in the space between us like a question I wasn’t sure how to answer.

I forced myself to release my death grip on the whiskey glass. My fingers ached from how hard I’d been holding it. “How did you find me?”

“Your mom texted the family group chat looking for you.” Elena’s lips curved in a ghost of a smile. “The one I’m still in, by the way. She won’t let me leave.”

I snorted. “Of course, she won’t. If Emma has adopted you, you’re an Everton now, whether you like it or not.”

“I do like it,” she said quietly.

We lapsed into a silence that was not awkward, necessarily, but still uncomfortable. There was still so much to say. But where did we even begin?

Elena spoke first. “Will you come somewhere with me? I want to show you something.”

I pushed the whiskey glass away, toward the back of the bar.

“Anything you need, Elena. Anything.”

I’d made that promise once before, and I’d failed her.

I wouldn’t fail her again.

Chapter Sixteen

CHASE

Now, December 2024

I hadno clue where she was taking me, but I’d follow this woman to hell and back. In a way, I already had—a few times.

My hands were still trembling from fighting off that whiskey at Callaghan’s, but now it wasn’t the alcohol I was craving. It was answers. Twenty-four weeks pregnant. The math was spinning in my head like a slot machine that wouldn’t stop, even as Elena’s car turned right off Main onto Oakpoint Road.

Oak trees, hundreds of years old and barren this time of year, lined the street. It was cold as balls outside, but it hadn’t snowed recently, so instead of the branches being coated with a line sheen of snow and ice, they were completely devoid of life.

We passed by house after house, fancy old Victorians thatlooked far too classy for Sable Point, but the few rich folks in town neededsomewhereto live.

Elena’s car slowed, and she flicked on her blinker before she pulled into the driveway of a tired-looking Victorian. Blue paint peeled off in patches, making the whole place look freckled and worn, like it was trying to shed its skin. I parked my truck behind her, knuckles white on the steering wheel.

When the door to the detached garage opened, it hit me. This was her house. Not that cottage on Maple where everything had gone down. Where I’d last seen her before... before everything went to shit. Before Harbor Hall. Before I’d gotten clean just to come home and find out she was?—

My stomach lurched. I pressed my palm flat against the cool window glass, trying to ground myself. Elena had always been the strongest person I knew—spine of steel, refusing to break no matter what life threw at her. I’d been hoping to channel some of that strength to get through these first weeks home.

I was ready to put in the work.