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Ashton had made his way across the concourse to a shop that looked like it sold everything a teenage boy could dream of.

Video games, comic books, specialty board games, you name it.

The group of girls had moved on, but I saw a few of them throw looks back at Ashton as he inspected a rack of posters.

“You know what?” I said, a new idea forming, one that really appealed to me. A penance of sorts for Cole.

“What?” he asked, looking dubious.

I patted him on the arm. “I think you’ll need to have the talk with him soon. Unless you want us to become young grandparents.”

Cole’s eyes bugged out for a moment before he laughed. “I don’t think that will be a problem. He seems to actually listen to you.” His smile faded, and he became serious, nudging me to stop outside Ashton’s hearing range.

“You know what he said to me a few days ago?” he said. “That you told him to be mindful of the hearts in his care. Our boy isn’t going to be a heartbreaker, that’s for sure.”

A lump formed in my throat. I’d said those words to Ashton, hoping he’d take them to heart, but I knew the mind of a teenage boy didn’t usually retain platitudes like that.

I’d thought he might forget about it as soon as the conversation was over.

It touched me that he’d thought the words important enough to share with Cole.

Swallowing back the tears that threatened to form in my eyes, I smiled back at Cole. “I’m glad the words stuck. He’s a good-looking kid. The last thing I want is every hormonal teenage girl and their mothers calling my baby a playboy.”

An hour and a half later, with a backseat full of bags of new clothes and shoes, as well as some comics Ashton purchased with his allowance, Cole drove back into Harbor Mills. He glanced at his watch and then turned to us.

“Anybody up for a burger and some milkshakes? My treat.”

“Ashton had a hamburger yesterday, but I’m game,” I said.

“Mom, seriously, I could survive on cheeseburgers. And milkshakes. Yes, please.”

“Awesome,” Cole said, turning left at the next street.

A few minutes later, we were parked at The Burger and Shake Shack. The place hadn’t been here fifteen years ago. The sign had a big cartoon man who held a passing resemblance to Homer Simpson, shoving a burger into his mouth and dousing his head with a vanilla milkshake.

“Charming,” I said, eyeing the goofy sign.

“Yeah. It’s their thing,” Cole said. “But the food’s great. Come on.”

As we walked in, Cole’s phone buzzed. When he looked at it, he froze and frowned at the screen.

“Is something wrong?” I asked.

He shook his head. “Don’t think so. Hell, I didn’t even know he had my number.”

“Who?” Ashton asked.

Cole looked up, blinking as though coming out of a dream. “Sorry. My, uh, my half-brother Dallas.”

“You’ve got a half-brother?” Ashton asked, his curiosity piqued. We hadn’t filled him in on all the Garrett family drama.

“He wants to know where I am. I’m gonna tell him we’re here. Maybe he wants to talk.” He glanced at me. “Is that okay?”

“Sure,” I said with a shrug. “The more, the merrier.”

“If it’s really important, we’ll talk outside. I don’t want to ruin your lunch like yesterday.”

“That’s fine,” I said. It would be good for Cole to mend every fence he could. Perhaps this could be a chance for him to reconnect with his brother.

He shot off a quick text, then followed us inside.

The place was kind of cheesy with its retro ’90s décor, but it smelled fantastic.

Cole ordered a bacon burger with blue cheese, I got a regular cheeseburger with lettuce and tomato, while Ashton chose some strange monstrosity with a fried egg, hot sauce, and nacho cheese.

If he didn’t watch it, he’d have a coronary before he was twenty.

Along with that, we each ordered a milkshake—two vanillas and a strawberry.

We chatted for a bit, sipping at the shakes, and when the burgers came out, my eyes nearly bugged out.

Mine alone could have fed three people. If Ashton and Cole thought it was too much food, they said nothing as they dug in voraciously.

I managed to get through about a third of mine before my stomach protested.

Cole and Ash had polished off all their food, even the piles of onion rings and tater tots.

Shifter metabolism. I would have killed for it. Cole had always eaten like that, and he still looked like an underwear model.

“Cole, can we talk?”

I turned my head toward the voice, my gaze landing on a man I barely recognized.

I’d only seen Dallas a few times in the past, but the resemblance to his father and Cole was there.

Not like the mirror image of Cole and Ashton, but it was noticeable.

A massive black eye and a split lip marred Dallas’s handsome face. Both wounds looked fresh.

A deep growl rumbled from Cole’s chest, heavy and threatening. Even though I knew I was safe in his presence, a chill of fear crept up my spine at the sound of it. Anyone hearing that would have been terrified.

“Who did that to you?” Cole snarled.