“We’re in here,” she called.

Dad strode into the kitchen with purpose, his eyes on Mom. “Can you come outside? I have something to show you.”

She glanced down at her clothes—a silky long-sleeved shirt and floral lounge pants. Even in comfies, Mom was fashionable. “Sure, why not.”

“Skylar?” he asked.

“Okay.”

We followed Dad out the front door.

Parked in the driveway was a beautifully restored Cadillac convertible. It was bright cherry red with red and white interior, whitewall tires, and big fins on the back.

“Oh my god,” Mom said. “Is that a ’59 Cadillac?”

“Nineteen fifty-nine Cadillac series 62 convertible,” Dad said, pride in his voice. “Just like—”

“Just like the one we had when we got married.” She wandered closer to the car and lightly touched the fender with her fingertips. “Is this yours?”

“Sure is. I hired Evan Bailey to restore it for me. He texted this morning to say it was finished.”

“It’s beautiful.”

A flood of memories filled my mind. I remembered this car—or the one Dad used to have. We’d gone for drives on sunny days with the top down. Stopped for ice cream in town or driven the winding mountain highway between here and Echo Creek. I remembered the wind blowing in my face. My parents smiling at each other in the front seat.

Those were good memories. Happy memories.

Dad stood in front of my mom, his hand resting on the driver’s side door. “When I bought it, I said I wanted it so I could take Skylar out again. Maybe reconnect with her a little. But then you came home and I thought…”

“You thought what?” Mom asked.

“We had a lot of good memories in that old Caddy. I thought maybe we could make some more.”

“Norman—”

He stepped closer and took her hand. “Caroline, I know we went wrong all those years ago. And I figure we still have some things we need to work through. But you are the love of my life. Not were. Are.”

My eyes filled with tears and I put a hand to my mouth. I couldn’t believe this was happening.

“What are you saying?” she asked, her voice barely above a whisper.

“You’re home, where you’ve always belonged, and I want you to stay. We’ll do the hard work and we’ll figure this out. But I’m tired of living without you. Having you home reminded me how much I love you, even when you’re driving me crazy. Maybe especially when you’re driving me crazy.”

She laughed. “I love you too.”

Dad pulled her in close and her arms went around his neck as he kissed her.

Oh my god. I’d just witnessed my parents getting back together.

As happy as I was for them, I felt like I’d suffered emotional whiplash. I had so much going through my mind, I hardly knew what to do with all of it. Gavin saying that we should get married. The way he’d left, hurt and upset. And now my dad declaring his love for my mom and asking her to stay. It was so much, I thought I might burst.

Dad stopped kissing her and glanced at me with a bit of guilt. “Sorry, Skylar.”

“No, don’t be. This is amazing.”

“Should we take her out?” Dad asked. “Go for a nice drive? It’s chilly, but we can bundle up. Or I can put the top up if you want.”

“Leave it down,” Mom said, a giddy smile on her face. “I have warm clothes.”

“Why don’t you two go,” I said.

“Are you sure?” Dad asked.

Mom gave me an understanding smile and put a hand on Dad’s arm. “We'll go for a family drive soon.”

I walked over and hugged them both together. My heart was so full and so broken at the same time. I couldn’t have been happier for my parents. With everything they’d been through, they’d always loved each other. I could see that now.

As for me, it was like I didn’t know up from down anymore. I’d thought I had a good handle on my relationship with Gavin—such as it was. Boy, had I been wrong.

And now I didn’t know what I was going to do.

39

Gavin

I walked into Gram’s house with my shoulders slumped. I’d been a dumbass, and with the way stories got around in this town, she probably knew all about it. Why else would she have called Asher?

Facing the music was never fun. If I was lucky, maybe there would be cookies at the end of it.

Kinda felt like I deserved a little bit of luck today.

“In here, Otter,” she called from the kitchen.

I found her sitting at the big table with a book and a mug of tea. She smiled at me and gestured to the chair across from her.

I pulled it out and dropped into it.

“Is it really so bad?” she asked.

“Yes.”

She didn’t laugh at my misery. Just reached across the table to squeeze one of my hands. “You have grass in your hair.”

I reached up to brush my hands over my head a few times. I didn’t particularly want to explain why. Gram didn’t know about the Arena. Actually, she probably did, because she basically knew everything. But if she did, she pretended she didn’t.

“What happened out there on that bridge?” she asked.

“A tree fell in the storm. Hit the bridge while Caroline and Skylar were trying to drive across. They were stuck, but we got them out before the supports failed.”

“I know about that part. What happened to you?”

I looked down at the table for a long moment. “I guess I got scared.”

“Good.”

“Why is that good?”

“Fear is normal. Healthy, even, when it’s directed at the right thing. But it also takes practice to manage. And you can’t practice if you don’t recognize what you’re dealing with.”

“I’m not lying when I say things usually don’t scare me. I can stand on the edge of a cliff or run into a burning building and I’m not afraid.”

“I believe you. You’ve had a lot of practice at managing that kind of fear. You know how to do more than manage it. You know how to use it to drive you. But injury or death aren’t the only things to fear. Your dad had to learn that lesson the hard way, too.”

I kept my eyes on the table.

“He liked danger. It didn’t seem like anything scared him. He wasn’t afraid of heights or spiders or storms or flying. He wasn’t even afraid of pretty girls.”

That made me crack a smile. “What finally scared him?”

“I think he had little doses of fear when he and your mom were dating. They were young and learning how to build a relationship. That’s bound to be rocky. But even marriage didn’t truly scare Charlie. Just like your grandad, once he set his mind to something, he was relentless until he got what he wanted. And what he wanted was your mom.”

“Do you think they just knew?”

She nodded slowly. “I think they did. They knew what they had was special, even before they were ready to make it official.”

“If marriage didn’t scare Dad, what did?”

“Fatherhood,” she said with a smile.