Page 3

THREE

GAbrIEL

Tuesday

The narrow two-lane highway curved dramatically to the left and downward. A gap in the wall of forest exposed a small, half-empty bay a few hundred feet below. Various seabirds and a bald eagle fought over and feasted on the exposed sea life.

After looping around the bay, the highway headed north as advertised. To Gabe’s right, the cold waters of the Hood Canal were choppy and gray. A particularly strong gust of wind buffeted the Honda, and he had to fight to keep to his side of the road. Highway 101 during the winter months was not intended for the weak-hearted.

“Fools like us, maybe,” Gabriel grumbled.

A fool like you, Chance.

The radio signal had cut out forty-five minutes behind him, so all he could do was concentrate on staying on the road.

Unable to stop himself, Gabriel glanced at his reflection in the rearview mirror again. The same person he’d always been looked back at him, just more gray through his hair. His long, straight nose—slightly crooked from an incident in his twenties—was paired with dark slashing eyebrows and green eyes that people had often told him were striking. It was difficult to see much of his mother, but the shape of his chin was similar to Heidi’s.

Another hour, give or take, and he would be there. Wherever there was.

In general, Gabriel had managed not to think much about his mother’s recent death. Today, however, the contents of the letter in his pocket replayed in his head as he drove.

Chance, you may wonder why I chose not to tell you this while I was living. I can’t say, really. Except that the older I got, the harder it was to tease out the stories from the truth. Most likely you will be angry with me—but when have you not been? I can’t say our relationship has been easy. And, I suppose, I am to blame for that too.

I met your father when I was twenty and all that means. He charmed me. I thought I was in love. Me! A Karne! Can you imagine it?

That line was a kicker. Heidi Karne had always claimed that she didn’t know who his father was, that she’d had a one-night stand and had never learned his name. And she was right, he was angry with her.

Love or not, by the time I found out I was pregnant, it was too late to do anything about it .

Nice, Mom. But honestly, Gabriel wasn’t surprised that Heidi hadn’t wanted the burden of a child. He supposed he’d always been able to tell. The subject was just one of many they never broached.

I should have known better. Your father was a handsome charmer, but he had no substance. You look a lot like him. He spent most of his time with me bragging about the other women he’d been with, and I thought it meant I mattered most. I wouldn’t be surprised if you have brothers and sisters out there somewhere. He’s dead anyway, died in the late ’90s, so you don’t need to worry about having to meet him.

There’s something else for you. I’ve been paying a small fee to have someone I used to know keep an eye on it for you. Think of it as your inheritance from your father. The car is also yours, of course.

An address and a name he’d never heard of, Elton Cox, had followed. A quick internet search had revealed nothing about either of them, only that the location existed and wasn’t that far from Seattle except for the pesky Salish Sea being in the way. As for the man, Gabriel had no other information.

Was Elton Cox his father? Would Heidi have been so cruel? Gabe couldn’t answer that.

But whoever this Cox person was, he maintained a general level of anonymity that Gabriel was intensely envious of.

You probably want me to apologize for my life choices and how I raised you, but— Gabriel could almost see his mother lift one skinny shoulder in a careless shrug —I did what I thought was best. You always had a roof over your head and you were never hungry.

The fact that Heidi was literally justifying a lifetime of emotional neglect from the grave would be laughable if it wasn’t exactly on brand for her.

I do hope you find real happiness someday, although I have no idea what that would look like for you. You always have been a bit of an odd duck. The car is in the storage unit, the keys were sent to your post office box. Everything else has been donated.

She’d sighed it HK, like she always had.

He was fine. Everything was fine. It would be fine.

Fine.