1. Nick

CHAPTER 1

NICK

Meet me at Daisy’s Nut House after school. - Nick

“Ethan, Sasha! It’s time to go! Being late the first day is not how we want to get the school year started, okay?” And lord help me if their mother found out if we were. We’d been divorced almost as long as we were married and a lecture from her was the last thing I needed.

I heaved out a sigh and straightened my tie before pouring my third cup of coffee for the day. Was I addicted? Yes. At this point in my life, I was pretty sure I couldn’t live without it. Hell, I could mainline caffeine straight into a vein and it wouldn’t perk me up. Nothing motivated me lately, aside from being the best father I could be for my kids.

Burnout, thy name is Nick.

“All my friends are riding the bus,” Sasha complained as she slunk down the hall and slid onto a barstool, all while furiously texting on her cell phone. “I’m the only one being dropped off,” she huffed. “You can’t walk me in. None of my friends’ parents are walking them in. Please?”

Sasha was eleven going on forty-two. She was precocious, ran mental rings around my oldest, Ethan, and had me worried for my future sanity if her request last night for me to drive her to Daisy’s Nut House after school and leave her there with her friends for the evening was any indicator of her budding social life. The answer to her request was an unequivocal no. As far as I was concerned, eleven was far too young for unsupervised fun with friends.

As for me?In addition to being perpetually exhausted, I was an English teacher and football coach at Green Valley High School, in my hometown of Green Valley, Tennessee. I also snapped up all the paid advisory positions I could manage, taught summer school, and ran a football camp. I couldn’t afford to take time off. My divorce had ruined me financially. Going from two incomes to one with two kids to support, paying rent on my cheap apartment, and forking over enough to cover one-third of a mortgage payment could do that, especially on a teacher’s salary.

But those days were finally over. After scrimping and saving every extra penny for the down payment, I was finally buying another house in town. My ex was still in the house we had bought together. I didn’t begrudge her the place; the kids loved it, and it had been their home since Ethan was born. I would never try to take that away from them just to save a few bucks.

This coming weekend I would be moving into a house around the corner from their mother’s place. Hopefully they would love it just as much, especially since we’d be close enough for them to walk between our houses—and ride the bus to school in the morning, which had apparently become a huge deal.

Every other week at Dad’s would soon level up to include a corner lot with a huge backyard and a swimming pool, and I couldn’t wait. The thought of mowing my own lawn and having a garage again would have made me smile if I wasn’t so damn tired. Instead, all I could manage was a slight relaxation of the tense scowl that had become a permanent fixture on my face.

“Do we have any Pop-Tarts?” Sasha broke through my semi-conscious reverie with a put-upon sigh, and I snapped back to attention.

“Yes, we do. And hey, you’ll be able to ride the bus next week. We’ll be in the new house by then, okay? Everything you chose for your room is ordered and on the way.”

“Okay, Dad.” She hopped off the stool to rummage through the pantry.

“Ethan, come on!” I called. “Time for breakfast.”

He appeared in the kitchen entrance, sleepy-eyed and dragging ass. “I need at least another week of summer vacation,” he grumbled. “I’m not ready for school to start.” He was almost thirteen but, in many ways, much younger than Sasha’s eleven. He liked video games and skateboarding at the park, Marvel movies, and Minecraft. His friends were the same way. When they were here, it was nothing but Xbox, computer games, and pizza. Girls were not on his radar yet; boys weren’t either for that matter, not that I cared either way. I just wanted my kids to be happy.

“You’ll be fine. Once we get outside in the fresh air and get moving, you’ll feel better.”

Yeah, right.

He shot me a side-eye and a grin as he scrambled onto a barstool and took a Pop-Tart from Sasha. He didn’t believe that any more than I did. “No, I won’t.”

I shrugged. I had lost the will to be encouraging. “Well, you can camp out on the couch and watch TV all you want when you get home. No time limit. How about that?”

“Can we go to Daisy’s Nut House and have cheeseburgers for dinner?” His eyes lit up. “Oh! Can we stop there and get doughnuts on the way to school too?”

I gestured to the Pop-Tart in his hand with a sardonic smile but decided to give in, just a little bit. “How about we pick up burgers on the way home?” The day hadn’t even truly started, and I already knew I’d be exhausted by the end of it.

“Deal. I feel a little bit better, but only like ten percent. I’d still rather go back to bed.” He shoved half the Pop-Tart in his mouth and took a bite.

“Don’t forget to chew.” I shook my head. “Look, I’m tired too, but we’ve got this. We’re Eastons and nothing keeps an Easton down, right?” They rolled their eyes in good-natured amusement at my attempt to rally them up. “Now, y’all finish your Pop-Tarts—don’t forget to not tell your mother I still buy them for you—and let’s get going.”

“Yeah, and you know she’ll be ticked off if we’re late. Come on, Ethan.” Sasha brushed the crumbs from her T-shirt, grabbed her new backpack from the table, and hoisted it over her shoulder. “I don’t want to be late anyway. My friends are meeting me by the cafeteria.” I could tell by the unconscious furrow of her brow and the tremor in her voice she was nervous.

“Whatever, my friends won’t care.” Ethan slipped his phone into his pocket and snagged his backpack off the back of the stool. “They’re probably still half asleep too. We won’t be fully awake until it’s time for lunch.”

“Are you sure you don’t want me to walk you in, Sasha, honey? It’s okay to be nervous on the first day. Or any day for that matter.”

She shook her head and shot me a tremulous smile. “I’ll be fine. But thanks, Daddy.”

Daddy.

She’d made the switch to “Dad” soon after her last day of elementary school and it had broken my heart a little bit. Time was slipping away almost too fast to bear; each year, they became more independent and needed me less.

I ruffled her hair as I passed her to grab my keys and messenger bag from the table. “Let me know if you change your mind on the way.”

Both kids would be attending Green Valley Middle School this year. The high school was just down the street. I liked the idea of being close to them all day. School should be the safest place for a kid, but unfortunately, that was not the world we lived in anymore.

The drive to school went quickly despite the morning traffic. After all my years teaching, I had perfected my timing. One minute off schedule would get us stuck in the rush of school buses, parents driving their kids to school, and people on their way to work.

After dropping them off with wishes for a great first day—and another refusal from Sasha to have me walk her in—I drove the few hundred feet down the street to the high school, swung into the teachers’ parking lot, and found a spot. I had exactly five minutes to sit in the air-conditioned cab of my truck and attempt to find my focus for the day. I ran my hands into my hair and rested my forehead on the steering wheel. The temptation to take a nap was almost overwhelming.

Just one minute.

I closed my eyes and let out a breath. A headache was beginning to form at my temples, and the press of the steering wheel combined with the cold air blasting in my face eased it.

This would be my last year of taking on extra work—except for coaching football; I loved that. It reminded me of high school, when I used to play. Something about the evening air, the teamwork, and the competition kept me going. It gave me a sense of nostalgia and reminded me of a time when I felt like I had something to live for—aside from my kids—that was solely for myself. I wanted to keep that feeling; it gave me hope that I’d find something just for me again someday.

Knuckles tapping on my window jarred me awake. I jerked upright, blinking rapidly against the glare of the sun shining through my windshield.

Shit.

“I’m awake. I’m up.”

Frantically, I checked the clock on my dashboard. I’d been out for four minutes. That wasn’t so bad. I’d still be on time for first period.

I lowered the window to find one of my students, Gracie Hill, standing there. She was part of the student paper—which I was the faculty advisor for—and she would be a senior this year. She also sometimes babysat for Ethan and Sasha, and if I recalled correctly, would be in my English 4 class this year. She watched me with her eyebrows up. A sideways smirk crossed her face and I winced. “It’s only the first day, Mr. Easton. Burnt out already?”

I shook my head. “I’m okay. I, uh . . .” My voice trailed off when I caught sight of who stood glaring at me behind her, arms crossed over her chest, one hip leaning on the driver’s side door of a hot little BMW parked a few empty spaces away.

My jaw dropped. Black leggings hugged every inch of her delectable curves, and her cropped hoodie told me she was still a fan of Smash Girl comics. Pale blond waves crowned her head in a messy bun as big cornflower-blue eyes flashed fire into mine. Her eyebrows dropped low into a V and she turned away with a sneer.

It was her.

Clara Hill.

The woman who had wrecked me for all others at the age of eighteen.

My first love, my first everything. She had broken my heart into pieces and ran off with most of them when she left Green Valley after we graduated. She was the biggest secret I had ever kept, and the only true regret I had in my life.

Damn, there were so many things I would have done differently back then if I had known better.

My heart thudded and my senses spun at her nearness. I was instantly wide-awake as the shock of seeing her after all these years hit me full force. She was beautiful. Even more so now that I understood what I had lost when she left me.

Of course I knew Gracie was her little sister. In a town as small as Green Valley, everyone knew at least a little bit of everyone’s family history. Who was related to who, marriages, divorces, scandals . . .

Gossip spread through a small town like ours faster than a hot knife through butter. But even so, it was surprisingly easy to keep a secret when given the proper motivation. And Clara and me? Our history was buried so far deep in the past no one would ever find out about us, not unless we wanted them to. However, Gracie was clever enough to pick up a clue if Clara unleashed even half of that anger she was currently aiming my way.

I stroked a fingertip down the bridge of my nose, struggling to find something to say to Gracie as memories crashed into my brain and stole my train of thought.

Why was she so angry when she was the one who ended everything?

“Uh . . .”

Gracie turned to her sister, then back to me with a pitying laugh. “Have you met Clara before? You had to have gone to school with her, right? Don’t worry, you’re not the first man I’ve seen turn into an idiot around her. Anyway⁠—”

“Oh, no, I—” I slammed my eyes shut with a cringe. Busted. “I’m just tired. I had a late night. Um, insomnia kicked my butt. Thanks for waking me up. Go on to class, Gracie. I’m on my way.”

“You’re welcome. Just so you know, I’ll be running late for a while. I have a sprained ankle. I’ll be in this boot with crutches for the next couple of weeks or so. Clara will be dropping me off and picking me up until it’s better.” She held up one of her crutches as evidence.

“No problem. I won’t mark you tardy. Make sure the front office knows so they can spread the word.”

“Thanks. See you in English.” I watched her hobble off, then turned in time to see Clara shoot me one last glare before shutting her door with a vicious slam and speeding away.