Prologue

“Sawyer, can you come talk to me before you go to your room?”

Sawyer Brennan had just shut the front door after walking home from school. His father was home recovering from a broken leg and called out to him.

“What’s up?” Sawyer asked.

“Come sit down,” his father said.

Sean Brennan was a big guy with red hair and a scruffy red beard. He fit the role of a truck driver in Sawyer’s mind, but with a busted leg, he was riding the couch for a few more weeks instead of his big rig. Sawyer only hoped the accident where his father was speeding and lost control of his vehicle didn’t cause him to lose his job on top of it.

“Everything okay?” he asked.

“Your mother is gone,” his father said.

“Gone where?” he asked. His father looked pissed off more than sad. It surprised him because his father put up with his mother more than he thought most would, saying he loved her too much to let her go.

“She moved out,” his father said. 

“Huh?”

“She’s moving in with someone else,” his father said.

Sawyer had heard the rumors at school. In a small town it was hard to hide the things that happened. More so when they fed a juicy grapevine of deceit and betrayal.

“The guy you were chasing when you got in your accident?”

His father held his stare. “What did you hear?”

“Does it matter?” he asked.

“I want to know,” his father said. “I know you’re going to hear all sorts of things and I’d rather you know the truth.”

That was one thing he could respect about his father. That he told the truth when asked. Too bad he wasn’t around much to talk to and that was why many said his mother strayed as much as she had over the years.

“That you caught her with someone when you came home early two weeks ago.”

 He’d been spending the night at a friend’s house. When his mother picked him up the next morning and told him about his father’s accident he’d been stunned. He hadn’t known his father was due back until later that night. He’d thought the accident was work related but soon found out otherwise.

“Yes,” his father said. “Your mother said you were staying at Dan’s and I figured I’d surprise her. I haven’t been around much. Guess I was the one that got the surprise.”

“And you were chasing after him and crashed?” he asked. “Are you going to lose your job?”

“Yes, I was chasing after him. No man should go after another man’s woman. Remember that.”

In his mind, maybe that woman didn’t want to be with one man and if that was the case, wasn’t it the woman’s fault too? His fifteen-year-old brain knew what he knew and heard.

If someone he was with wanted another man, more power to her. He wasn’t fighting for her. He wasn’t chasing any guy down and he sure the heck wouldn’t stay with that woman and put up with it.

No way, not when he kept hearing what a fool his father was for sticking around for years.

But they were rumors and maybe they were wrong. Though it didn’t seem it now.

“Well, if she did it to you, she’ll do it to him,” Sawyer said.

His father held his stare still. Now there seemed to be nothing more than tiredness behind the big guy’s eyes.

“You’re probably right. We all make our decisions in life. She made hers and I’m sitting here getting a numb ass for a few more weeks due to mine.”

“Do you still have a job?” he asked. He wanted to know. He supposed there were things that would change with his mother gone. “Do I have to live with her? I don’t want to. I don’t know this person she is with and I sure the hell don’t want to meet him. He can go fuck off.”

He turned to go to his room. “Sawyer,” his father snapped.

“What?” he asked, spinning around. “It’s not like I was chasing him down the street with a shotgun. I just said he could fuck off.”

His father scowled. He supposed he shouldn’t have shared he’d heard that part of the conversation too. If it was true, and he thought it might be, then who knew what would have happened if his father had caught up with the guy.

He’d like to think his father’s temper wouldn’t have unleashed any way other than a warning. His father wasn’t a killer. He was just a man that couldn’t seem to let go of his wife.

“I wasn’t going to shoot the man,” his father argued. “Your mother knows that. I just wanted to scare the prick.”

“You didn’t answer me on if you were losing your job? If I have to stay with her when you’re gone if you don’t? I can stay home alone. It’s okay. I’ll be sixteen soon and can get my license and drive myself places. I’ll be fine.”

“I don’t think I’m losing my job,” his father said. “I’m meeting with them in a few weeks. While I’m on the road, you can’t be home alone. We’ll work it out. If it’s not with your mother.”

“No,” he said. “I don’t want to talk to her or see her. No way. She just picked up and left without saying goodbye. I come home from school for you to tell me. She can fuck off too.”

His father sighed and wouldn’t say anything to him for swearing. In his mind he had a right to be pissed off. 

Sawyer wasn’t going to show any tears, but he was positive they’d come later. No one wanted to think their mother would just up and leave like this. Pick some dude over her child.

“Then I’ll talk with your grandparents. I’m sure they will be fine with it.”

“They live in Charlotte,” he argued, thinking of his father’s parents. The grandparents he loved to visit. It was just a different world than the one he lived in. He wasn’t sure how his father became a truck driver when his parents had good white-collar jobs. Not that there was anything wrong with the work his father did, but it still wasn’t what he was used to. 

“Not my parents,” his father said. “Your mother’s parents. They aren’t happy with what is going on. Trust me, they will be a good shoulder for you to lean on.”

His mother’s parents didn’t live that far away. Maybe five minutes. It’s not what he wanted to do either, but it’d be better than his mother. 

“I wish you weren’t on the road all the time,” he said.

“Me too,” his father said. “I’ll see what I can do or find once my leg is healed. For now I’m here and it’s a nonissue. We’ll work it out, Sawyer. I’m here if you want to talk.”

“Nothing to talk about,” he said, starting to walk away again. But he stopped first. “As you said, people make their choices and don’t give a shit about those left behind to pick up the pieces.”

He walked up the stairs to his room like normal even when every part of him screamed to run. Instead of slamming the door as was his urge, he closed it quietly and went to lie on his stomach on his bed.

Losing his temper and bursting out in anger wasn’t going to solve anything.

Neither were the tears that were falling, but he’d be damned if anyone else saw them.