Kade watched Monica twist toward the backseat, her head topped with short, blonde locks, like he remembered. He watched her lips moving, and his heart raced with long pent-up emotions bubbling to the surface. Anger. Resentment. Regret. Kade knew these sentiments stemmed from his own behavior, as well as Monica’s. Kade saw a crown of light-brown hair bobbing in the backseat. Tyler. He wanted to run to his son, embrace him, and beg the boy to forgive him for his absence. But he was immobilized with fear of the unknown. How much had Tyler changed in the last six months? Kade knew from his past visits with Tyler that his son’s ability to reason and understand was one-dimensional at best. Had things gotten worse? Maybe better. He knew he should move. Walk toward the car. Anything. Monica pulled herself to a standing position and rested her elbows on the car door. “Hello, Kade.” She was as lovely as ever, but his heart didn’t skip any beats. All that they’d had—gone. Too many bitter arguments, too much time gone by.
