He felt a wave of panic wash over him as his eyes darted from person to person. He lowered his gaze to the kids in the room, hoping to see the cheerful little boy he couldn’t’ stop thinking about.

  But Angus and Tessa had disappeared.

  Which made one thought more than clear: He wasn’t waiting a few more days to find out what the hell was going on. He needed answers now.

  2

  Tessa white-knuckled the steering wheel of her car, staring ahead into the sea of cars in the parking lot. She’d managed to navigate out of the stadium with Angus in tow, but now that they were in the car with the air conditioner running, she couldn’t find the strength to actually drive away.

  You know this was a bad idea. Why the hell did you agree to come?

  She let her head drop until her forehead touched the warm vinyl of the steering wheel.

  “Mom, are you okay?” Angus chirped from the backseat. He’d been admiring his football nonstop since they’d left the meet and greet. Tessa felt bad for abruptly ending it. But she had a good reason—Mommy is about to have a meltdown. Not like she’d ever share that with Angus. No, instead, she told him the reason behind the rush was the fact they had to get home and start dinner.

  Sort of the truth, and avoiding the unsavory details that Tessa knew she had to dig into…but just had no idea how.

  “I’m just, uh…” Tessa scrambled to think of an excuse for her odd behavior. They’d had such a good day, watching the Sharks’ first preseason game in person. It had been Angus’s first live football game…and with his new squad of friends from his brand-new school, no less. It was important for so many reasons.

  And even more important for one huge reason that Tessa had yet to mention to her son.

  “I’m figuring out the GPS to get home,” she finally croaked out, swiping through screens on her phone. She sniffed hard, trying to understand what she was seeing on the screen, but all she could see was Mark. His freshly showered dark blond locks, almost long enough to pull back into a ponytail. The jaw-dropping swell of his biceps, straining at the tight, black gym shirt. And the emotion in his eyes that she could feel from across the room…even after six years apart and her treating him worse than she’d ever treated anybody. Mark had been in performance mode during the signing, but she could sense the turmoil he was hiding just below the surface.

  “Did you have a great time at the game?” she asked, finally remembering where her maps app was on the phone. Mark had left her damn near braindead after that encounter. She’d figured seeing him play his first professional football game would be emotional enough for her. But to get invited with Angus’s friends to the locker room afterward for a VIP meet and greet? How could she say no? Her son would have been crushed if she’d forced him to miss that.

  “Mom, it was the best ever, oh my goodness!” Angus tossed his ball up into the air a few times. “Did you see how many touchdowns Mark Coleridge scored?”

  The pure awe in her son’s voice made her heart both break and swell. She wanted so badly to tell her son the truth about Mark. That he wasn’t just some random sports figure. He held a connection to Angus that nobody could deny or take away from him. Not even her. Not forever, at least.

  “Yeah, he played really great,” Tessa said, her throat clamping. She needed to move on from discussing him so she could focus on the drive. “Anyone else you liked? ”

  “James Sullivan is really, really, really good too,” Angus said, his eyes wide as he looked out the window. She loved when he used his serious adult voice; she just tried to hide her smile so that he wouldn’t think she was laughing at him. But the boy had a passion for football, though it wasn’t hard to come by in her family. Tessa made sure they had it on weekly in the fall, and she’d been planning Angus’s first trip to a game sometime soon anyway.

  She just hadn’t imagined it would be this game, today.

  After a brief pause, Angus started talking about Mark again, mentioning his standout plays with the gravitas of a sports caster. Tessa had to steel herself. It was natural for Angus to look up to Mark…and completely understandable that Angus would have no idea just how nostalgic even hearing Mark’s name could make her.

  While Angus chattered about Mark’s stats, Tessa’s mind drifted back to high school. Back when she’d spent every Friday night with her squad, cheering for their football team. Cheering for Mark, specifically, until they’d snag the inevitable victory and he’d lift her triumphantly onto his shoulders, his megawatt grin making everything in the world feel golden.

  She and Mark had been best friends forever, which turned into a wide-eyed romance their senior year. He’d been close as a brother, even though she’d always known just how cute he was in a way a brother never could be. And when he finally asked her to homecoming their senior year, it was like everything made sense in a way she’d never counted on. The avalanche had begun.

  Until it turned into overtook them.

  “Honey,” Tessa blurted after Angus had spent a few minutes wondering if he might ever get to play with Mark, and wouldn’t it be cool if he and Mark could be friends? “I, uh, I just remembered! We’re going to meet Grandpa right now for ice cream. Doesn’t that sound nice?”

  Her heart raced as she navigated through the highway traffic, desperate to divert their conversation.

  “Ooh, Grandpa is coming?” Angus asked. He adored his grandfather, even if Tessa had had a less than stellar upbringing with the man.

  “Yes, and you know what’s better yet?” She grinned at Angus through the rearview mirror. “We’re not just having ice cream, but ice cream sundaes.”

  Angus whooped in the back seat, and she tried her best to keep him focused on ice cream instead of a certain football player. When they rolled into the driveway of their little townhouse in downtown Savannah, tucked between antebellum mansions and college apartments, she spotted her dad’s car in the small driveway already.

  “You go on in,” she told Angus. “I’ll be right behind you.”

  Angus unbuckled himself and slid out of his car seat just as the front door opened and her dad waved. He visited often from their hometown, which was just an hour away. Angus shrieked and ran up to his grandpa, wrapping his arms around his waist.

  Tessa scrambled for her phone, eager to try to make things right—and fast. She pulled up the message thread with Mark and tapped out a new message.

  “I wish we could have talked today. It was chaos in the locker room. Any chance we can meet sooner than we planned?”

  She nibbled on her top lip for a moment and then added more: “Like, maybe, tonight?”

  She swallowed a knot of apprehension and stowed the phone in her purse, heading inside. Angus and her father were in the kitchen when she walked in, digging through the freezer.

  “I’m thinking chocolate sprinkles,” her father said in his ex-smoker’s rasp, pulling out a carton of ice cream before opening the fridge. He smiled at Tessa as she joined them. “Followed by raspberry sauce and topped with a cherry.”

  “Yes!” Angus pumped his fists, helping arrange the sundae spread on the kitchen counter.

  “You ready for a sundae, Tessa?”

  “I guess so,” she said, ruffling Angus’s hair as he slid onto a stool facing the counter. “No raspberry sauce on mine, though, please.”

  “She never did like raspberries,” her father told Angus in a conspiratorial whisper.

  “Why did you never like raspberries, Mom?” Angus asked, his gaze intent on the sundae his grandfather assembled in front of him.

  “Oh, I don’t know. Kind of like how you don’t like lettuce.”

  Angus pulled a face. “Well, it’s just grass.”

  Her father nodded sagely. “It is just grass, you’re right, boy.”

  Tessa feigned motherly annoyance, but she enjoyed the camaraderie her father and son had. She’d never had that with her father during her own childhood, but at least her son could know what it was like. And throughout it all, her father had been the only male influence in her son’s life.

  But she planned to change that. ASAP.

  While the two of them chattered about the game and what Angus had seen, Tessa listened with a smile, slowly eating her sundae. But the anticipation of what Mark might say in reply to her text ate at her. After she took her last bite, she excused herself from the table and dug out her phone, impatiently swiping it on.

  No new messages.

  She swallowed some of the anxiety threatening to surge, reasoning that he probably had plenty to do after games. It wasn’t like he’d be glued to his phone after scoring all those touchdowns in the first preseason game of his career. Even though she was desperate for him to at least glance at his phone.

  Angus finished his sundae, the spoon clattering to the table. “Ooh! Grandpa! I made a new picture of a train in school this week. Do you wanna see it?”

  “Of course I do!” her father said, slapping his knee.

  “Okay! Let me go upstairs and find it. I don’t know where I put it.”

  “It’s in your backpack,” Tessa reminded him. “Check the green folder.”

  “Yeah! I’ll check the green folder!” Angus raced out of the kitchen, heading for the staircase. While he was gone, Tessa slumped back into her seat at the dining room table. Her father expelled a sigh as though he knew what was coming.

  “So…I have to tell you something,” Tessa said, picking at a fingernail.

  “Let me guess. It’s about this Sharks game he won’t stop talking about,” her father said.

  She cleared her throat. “Yep. The school friends we went with managed to snag VIP passes. Angus was thrilled, of course. And I couldn’t tell him no.” Her father’s mouth formed a frown, which deepened as she went on. “So of course we head to the meet and greet. Angus met Mark, and judging by the look on Mark’s face, well…” She drew a shaky breath, forcing herself to look her father in the eye. “I think he knows that Angus is his.”

  Her father’s frown deepened and he shook his head. “I told you it was a bad idea taking him to that game.”

  “But I couldn’t tell him no.”

  “You can tell him anything you want,” her father said with a dismissive shrug. “You’re his mother.”

  She sighed, the same feelings of defeat crashing over her from all the other times in their history of trying to relate to each other. “Thanks for the reminder, Dad.”

  “All I’m saying is, you knew it was risky. Couldn’t you have taken him to another game some other time?”

  She nibbled on her top lip. “You don’t understand. Angus just started at this—my—new school. It’s important to me that he fits in, that he feels welcomed there. The kids he goes to school with have everything. Their families live in mansions and buy their five-year-olds meet and greets with NFL players. Those kids know nothing but money. Angus being invited to this birthday party was huge. I could never tell him no to something like that.”

  A sigh rumbled out of her father. “But who needs all that fancy-schmance anyway? The public schools are great, and—”

  “As long as I’m working as a teacher at his school, he can receive this private education for free. Angus is getting a great start in life, which is my primary concern,” Tessa said. “The fact that he’s making friends now too? Even better.”

  And for her, the case was closed. Because her whole motive in seeking out this prestigious position so soon after grad school was simply her son’s future, getting him the best possible education, as early as she could muster, while providing well for their small family. So far, it was working. And it needed to stay working.

  “So what do you think you’re going to do about Mark?”

  “I’m not going to draw things out, trust me,” she said. “I was always going to tell him. I just wanted to wait for him to get into a good place in his career. And clearly he has now.”

  Her father sighed, and she could sense the same long, tired line of objections ready to fall from his lips. They’d disagreed about how to handle her pregnancy and Mark’s involvement, but he never pressed his opinions, either. It went without saying that he didn’t exactly have the place to be telling her how to live her life, when he had been the bare minimum father throughout her childhood. Before he could say another word, she hurried to add, “I texted him to move up our meeting. Instead of later this week, I want to see him sooner. Possibly tonight, if he’ll allow it.”

  As if on cue, her phone vibrated. She shot out of her seat just as Angus’s footsteps thumped down the staircase. She swiped the screen on to read the preview of the message.

  It was Mark. “I can squeeze it in tonight. Tell me where.”

  It was curt but at least it wasn’t a no. She stared at her phone, trying to decipher the emotion behind his brief message.

  For now, it didn’t matter. What did matter was getting this big truth off her chest, so that for the first time in six years, she might be able to breathe easy with everything out in the open.

  Mark was about to find out he’d become a father the year they graduated from high school.

  3

  Mark showed up at the wine bar in downtown Savannah at 8 p.m. as planned. He tried to convince himself that the meeting was no big deal as he pushed into the small, cozy bar, rich with wood paneling and floor-to-ceiling racks of wine. Sure, they had a ton of ground to cover, and some old hurts to get past, but there was no reason for the jittery first date feeling he couldn’t seem to shake. His palms were sweaty too, but they weren’t likely to shake hands.

  At least he hoped not. But then again, he wasn’t sure what he wanted from the meeting.

  He immediately spotted Tessa seated at a table for two at the far end, scanning the menu. Why did she have to look so damn beautiful? Looking like no time had passed and they were still in high school. Of course, if that were the case he’d be greeting her with a kiss, not the doubts and awkwardness he was currently battling.

  At this point, he didn’t even know what he felt for her anymore. He didn’t hate her, that much was certain, but could they ever be friends again?

  It was hard to say. The future entirely depended on what she’d brought him here to tell him tonight. He shoved his hands into the jeans he’d changed into before leaving the stadium, when his teammates had invited him out for a post-game dinner. Not everyone had gone, but James encouraged him to join, so how could he say no? They’d feasted on wings and light beer, posing for plenty of pictures in the crowded sports bar. If that was what the season was going to be like, then he could get used to it.

  And meeting Tessa at places like this little wine bar after team dinners wouldn’t be all bad…

  No. It wouldn’t help to think like that about her. She’d ditched him for a reason, though he still wasn’t sure what it was. And even though he’d come to terms with the pain a long time ago, it only took a scratch to bring it all back to the surface.

  Tessa looked up from her wood plank menu just as he reached the table. Surprise flickered across her face, and then a pink blush filled her cheeks.

  “Hey, Tessa,” he said, scratching the back of his neck.

  “Oh my God, you scared me. Please, sit down.” She gestured to the open stool across the table, and he slid onto it, his forearms prickling with anticipation. The seat creaked under his weight, and her gaze shot to his.

  “Wow.” She laughed softly. “You’ve really beefed up since I last saw you.”

  “Beefed up” didn’t begin to cover it. He’d been scrawny but strong in high school. Now, he had professional sports trainers aiding him, and a bevy of health foods to bolster him.

  “Well, it’s been six years. I was destined to fill out a little,” he cracked, looking out across the wine bar. It was hard to meet those gray-green eyes. They’d always captivated him when they were together, and until he knew why they were meeting, staring into them was a dangerous choice.

  She smiled a little, looking down at her slight frame. He could almost predict what she’d say next…if she was still the same Tessa he’d grown up with. But after a moment, she said nothing.

  She wasn’t the same Tessa. Everything felt different. Awkward.

  He hated it.

  Silence stretched between them, broken only by the arrival of a server who asked for their orders.

  “Can I have a glass of this pinot grigio?” Tessa pointed to her selection on the wood-board menu, and the server chirped her agreement. When it came time for Mark to order, he said, “Water is good.”

  The server collected their menus and left them in another tense silence. Tessa drew a deep breath, which only annoyed Mark. He knew she had plenty to say, especially after showing up at his meet and greet today—with a kid. He realized that he knew nothing about her life, and at the rate they were going he wasn’t likely to find anything out.

  “So…” he began, crossing his arms, still facing the restaurant.

  Tessa’s brows drew together as she stared at the glasses of water between them. “Yeah. You’re probably wondering why I asked you to come here today.”

  “A little.”

  She started nibbling on that top lip again and then said, “Can you face me?”

  “What?”

  “Can you just… look at me?”

  Mark clenched his jaw. This wasn’t good. He finally turned toward her, clearing his throat as he steeled himself to meet her gaze. She looked ashen and he had to hold back from asking her what was wrong. This was her show.

  “I have imagined this moment eight hundred different ways,” she started in a low voice. “I tried to find the right words, but none of them seemed to work. I thought I’d be able to come up with something to explain everything in a way you’d understand but … ” she shook her head. “Do you remember Angus from today?”

  It came out in a nervous rush.

  Mark’s stomach pitched to the ground. The truth was, he hadn’t been able to stop thinking about the boy with the familiar eyes.