Home in Carolina Read Free

Reminding her of the countless times they’d talked about how reasonable it was to date others while she was still in college and he was on the road with the team had only backfired.
    “That didn’t include getting another woman pregnant,” she’d retorted, her eyes filled with the kind of hurt he hadn’t seen since her mom had kicked her dad out for cheating when Annie was fourteen. “How am I supposed to forgive that?”
    “I don’t know,” he’d told her, defeated. “I honestly don’t know.”
    Truthfully, he still didn’t. But when he’d been injured, the one bright spot had been the chance to come back to Serenity and maybe take a stab at making things right with Annie. He could have done the rehab anywhere, had the best trainers in the world working with him, but he’d refused every option the team had proposed, packed up Trevor and come home. He wasn’t entirely sure why making amends to Annie was so important right now, but it was. One of the lessons he’d learned the hard way was that friendships were more valuable and lasting than casual sex. Too bad he’d had to lose his best friend before he’d figured it out.
    Now that he was here, though, he had no idea what the next step should be. Maybe his mom was right. Maybe it just needed to start with a phone call.
    “Does she ever mention me?” he asked, looking for some sign that Annie’s attitude had mellowed.
    Maddie shook her head. “Certainly not to me. Can you blame her?”
    “I suppose not.”
    “I so wish things had turned out differently, Ty. You two—”
    “Are over,” he said flatly. “Her decision.”
    “If you honestly believe that, then why did you come back here?”
    “I thought it would be good for Trevor to spend some time with his family.” That, at least, was true. His son needed more stability than he could get even from the most doting nanny and a dad who was on the road for days—sometimes weeks—at a time.
    His mother studied him skeptically. “Really? And that thought only occurred to you after I mentioned that Annie had moved back home?” Before he could respond, she continued, “Because it certainly didn’t cross your mind during the off-season last year, or the year before that.”
    “Coincidence,” he claimed.
    “Oh, Ty,” she chided. “At least be honest with yourself. You’re here because of Annie. Why bother denying it, at least with me? Now, what are you going to do to make things right?”
    He glanced across the table and saw the lingering disappointment in his mother’s expression. That was as hard to take as losing Annie. After the way his dad had cheated on his mom and the way Ty had hated him for it, surely he should have behaved more responsibly. Instead, he was apparently a chip off the old block, after all.
    “I have no idea what I can do,” he admitted.
    “Well, you need to come up with a plan. The two of you are bound to cross paths. Not only is this a very small town, but our families are connected. Dana Sue and I are friends. We’re in business together. Annie works for me, for heaven’s sake.”
    Ty winced at the complicated mess he’d managed to create. “I’m sorry, Mom. If this is going to become somebig thing between you and Dana Sue, I can go somewhere else for rehab. There are plenty of facilities in Atlanta.”
    “No,” she said, backing down at once. “Having you back home is such an unexpected joy for me and for your brothers and sisters. It’s giving us a chance to spend time with Trevor, too.”
    She drew herself up. “Dana Sue and I will figure out a way to deal with this,” she said confidently. “We’ve been friends a long time, and we’ve always known that something might come between you and Annie. That’s why we tried so hard to stay out of it.”
    “How about you and Annie, though?” he asked worriedly, wishing he’d thought his decision through before disrupting everyone’s lives. Coming back had been selfish, he could see that now.