Page 22 of Shuttered Hearts

“No, today is about Max. We’re not going to bring down the mood thinking about that. All right?”

The look on Dad’s face says he wants to argue with me, but luckily, I hear car doors slamming, signaling the return of Emily with the first group of kids.

“Did we win? Are we the first group back?” Ethan, one of Max’s friends, shouts as he runs around the corner into the backyard.

“You did.” I laugh at his excitement.

“Yes!” He pumps his fist in the air before turning to the two other kids from his group, excitedly sharing the news.

I see Emily make it around the corner, a smile on her face.

“Did it go okay?” I ask a little apprehensively. I don’t know Max’s friends well, so putting them in groups and having them run around town might not have been the best idea. Emily thought it would be good, so I crossed my fingers and hoped for the best.

“Yeah, they were great. Not a single problem. You know how Max is, and his friends are generally just as well-behaved.” She smiles at me.

“Good. I would have felt bad, except you were the one who said you would take them instead of staying to set up the backyard.” I hear the doorbell ring, stopping me from saying anything else.

“You expecting anyone else?” Dad asks, turning to look inside.

“No, everyone that is supposed to be here was here when we split into teams.” I take my phone out of my back pocket to make sure I didn’t miss anything from Declan or Caleb; though, they should have come around the house the same way Emily did. “Caleb just texted to say they are on their way back, and Declan shouldn’t be too far behind him. I’ll see who it is. You’re good out here?”

“Yeah, we’re fine,” Emily assures me.

I head inside, looking down at my phone as it vibrates, seeing a text from Declan.

Declan

The kids got a little stumped at the Gazebo, but we’re back on track. Should be back to the house soon.

The doorbell rings again, forcing me to put my phone away before I can respond.

I’m stunned frozen when I open the door. I never thought I would see her again.

“Hey, Bean.”

eleven

QUINN

That’sthe first thing my mother says to me in almost ten years, “Hey, Bean”?

The last time I saw her was the morning of an art exhibit I had a couple of months before I graduated high school. Caleb even came home from med school so he could be there with Dad and Max. I expected to see her with them that evening, but she never showed up, and no one knew where she was.

There was a lot of baggage when it came to my mother. For most of my childhood, she hadn’t been someone I could rely on. She’d never actually left town, but there would be periods where she didn’t come home. I know Dad regrets not separating from her sooner, but I think he hoped that encouraging her to stay would make her want to be in our lives.

Dad finally hit his breaking point when I was fifteen. Mom had kept one too many secrets at that point, and the little ounce of trust he still had in her disappeared entirely. He’d initially told her she had to leave and she wasn’t welcome in the house anymore, but she swore up and down she would change, thathim kicking her out was the wake-up call she needed. She claimed she was desperate to stay in mine and Caleb’s lives. She said something right because while they officially separated, Dad allowed her to stay in the guest cottage at the back of the property.

After that, things were better. Mom still missed important events, but she wasn’t out partying, and she was home every night.

It was strange for her to miss something when I’d just spoken to her about it hours before. It wasn’t until we all got home and saw all her stuff was gone we realized she had left. We didn’t know at the time it was for good, but Dad still started the process of legally declaring she abandoned Max. He had given her another chance, and she blew it. For him, she didn’t have any more chances, and he wanted to make sure Max was always taken care of, without concern for my mother’s whims.

“No, you don’t get to call me that anymore. You lost that right when you walked out on us.” I reach out and pull her into the house. Caleb will be home with Max at any minute, and while I want to make her leave, I don’t want either of them to see her.

“What are you doing here?” I demand quietly, not wanting my dad to make his way inside.

“It’s Max’s birthday. I wanted to be here for it.”

I take a moment to really look at her. I’m surprised she looks as good as she does. She’s thin, but she looks healthy. Her brown hair, the same color as mine, falls in waves past her shoulders. There are very few wrinkles in sight. Just those fine line crow’s feet at the corner of her blue eyes. Her skin is practically glowing.

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