Page 35 of The Moments You Were Mine

As I emerged from the bedroom, Dad looked up from his phone and said, “I thought we’d order pizza.”

“You have an early flight. You don’t need to babysit us.”

He ignored my comment and went to the kitchen, grabbing two beers from the fridge and handing me one. “Your mom and I had a long talk last night. We think you and Theo should come live with us for now.”

“What?” I nearly choked on the swallow I’d taken.

He waved a hand. “What are you going to do when you’re deployed? Who’s going to keep Theo? At least this way, he’d be in his own bed every night, living with people who care about him.”

“Dad, you’re retiring. You planned to sell the house and travel for the next five years before settling down anywhere.”

Dad had worked for Rafe for nearly two decades now. After Rafe had married Sadie, he’d hired a CEO to take over the bulk of the Marquess Enterprise’s responsibilities in order to have more time with her, their kids, and Fallon. But as Rafe had slowly unraveled himself from the business’s day-to-day activities, my dad had become more entrenched. He was much more than just the chief of security. He was Rafe’s guard dog, watching over the hired executives to ensure nothing went wrong.

But Dad had promised Mom to finally retire by the end of the year.

“Truth is, we’d discussed eventually settling down wherever you were at.” Dad gave me a sad grin. “We were hoping we might get another grandkid or two out of you and Will, even if you swore you’d forever be single.”

I tried not to let the mention of Will stab me in the gut. He’d wanted more kids, whereas I’d treated the topic as if it was a horror show.

I pushed past those thoughts to focus on what Dad was offering me—a way to share the burden of raising Theo. But I didn’t want my parents to give up their future plans any more than I wanted to give up mine.

My voice was gruff when I finally responded, “Having a grandkid is different than becoming a backup parent at fifty-five.”

Dad shrugged. “Life likes to throw hand grenades at us. Sometimes, it isn’t until after we’ve rebuilt from the wreckage that we can see it was the best thing to happen to us.” Nice words, but they only made the pain in my chest grow to epic proportions. The shrapnel from the blowup of my life shouldn’t spread to theirs. He read my hesitancy. “Think about it. It isn’t like you’d be abandoning him to foster care. You’d be his guardian, and we’d just be helping out whenever you were out of pocket.”

“We love him, Parker,” Mom said, joining us in the kitchen. She put an arm around my waist and rested her head on my shoulder. “We loved Will. Theo was already our grandchild. This just makes it legal.”

My teeth ground together, and pain ratcheted up my jaw, spiking along my temples.

“You have plenty of time to consider it,” Dad said. “They won’t call your team back until they’re sure the dust has settled.”

Mere months. We had one hundred and twenty days before we started training again.

Was that even enough time to right this ship? For one of the first times in my life, I didn’t know the answer or have a clue on how to go about it.

Chapter Eleven

Fallon

THE PROPHECY

Performed by Taylor Swift

TEN YEARS AGO

HIM: *** GIF of a country artist saying happy birthday***

HER: How much did it hurt to use that GIF?

HIM: It was worth the sacrifice if it made you smile. How are you celebrating?

HER: Don’t know. Mom hasn’t mentioned it, which is fine. It doesn’t feel like I should be celebrating anyway. Nothing seems right without Spencer here this year.

HIM: Today is about YOU. And YOU DESERVE to be celebrated.

PRESENT DAY

The wind was unseasonably cool, whippingagainst my face and through my light flannel as I raced up the slope on Daisy. A vibrant mix of rainbow-sherbet colors spread across the lightening sky. My heart leaped at the pure magnificence of Mother Nature at work.