Rachel had said very little more after her telling comment about her failed relationship with Craig Slocum, and there was no way Sean could hope to help her cope unless she chose to open up to him. Then again, she hadn’t asked for that kind of help, had she. So why did he feel compelled to give it? Good question. Why, indeed? Because I’m a “fixer” at heart, he told himself. Always have been, always will be. Though he’d failed to help his own family, that didn’t mean he couldn’t help others, like Rachel—or the children he’d been trained to work with. That way, at least something good would come out of his troubled childhood. Such assurances gave him solace when he was foolish enough to think back on the trauma of having been raised in a household where he was the only one who wasn’t a problem drinker. Sean parked in front of the service station garage and started to get out. “I’ll be right back. I just want to tell Slocum where we’re going and when to expect us back.”
