Page 37 of Tell Me Again
“Yes, it is. It changed your whole life.”
“That’s what becoming a parent does.”
“Not for Bryce,” she said, her voice catching. “Not for my mom. She kept living her life like we weren’t even there. But you—”
“Don’t make it into something it wasn’t, Sam.” Trevor’s voice was tight. “I left college to raise my daughter. It happens.”
“If I would have known...”
“You didn’t.”
“I didn’t,” she repeated. Because he hadn’t wanted her to know. Her sister hadn’t wanted her to know. Every time she thought she was over the pain of that secret, it raised a hand to slap her down again. He hadn’t told her and if Grace hadn’t come looking for a mother, Sam still wouldn’t be a part of the girl’s life. Of Trevor’s life.
She glanced around at the empty auditorium. “We should join the other families.” Before he answered, she was walking toward the exit. Walking away was easier than allowing him to see how much he could still hurt her.
Trevor was trying to extricate himself from another gaggle of curious mothers as he searched for Sam and Grace in the crowd of students and family members at the reception. While he and Sam had walked in together, the distance between them was like an invisible wall he wasn’t sure how to scale. He wasn’t even sure he wanted to because what was on the other side left him feeling out of control. Trevor needed control. It was the only thing that he could depend on in life.
Thankfully, Grace hadn’t noticed the tension. She’d been too excited about plastering herself to Sam’s side and introducing her aunt to her friends. The teens were far more welcoming than their parents—at least the moms. The men in the room could hardly keep their eyes off Sam, a fact she seemed not to notice but had his blood roaring in his ears.
He’d seen the women grouped together, heads bent, whispering among themselves as they pretended to rearrange plates of cookies and refill the punch bowl. He would have liked to believe Sam didn’t notice their attention, either, but her smile had been tight as Grace led her through the room. He knew she wasn’t as unaffected by the silent judgment as she pretended to be.
Again with the gooey center.
It had only taken a few minutes for several of the bolder moms to corner him for details about his connection to her. He’d noticed a couple of men huddled together staring at their phones and guessed they were busy searching for images of Sam in various states of undress.
More blood roaring.
It was stupid to feel sorry for her. She’d chosen not only her career, but also the image she’d cultivated during her modeling years. Even he’d believed she’d become no more than the vapid woman from the glossy magazine spreads who cared about her fame and where she could find the next party.
Now he knew the reputation she’d developed was a complete contrast to who she’d become. He tried to tamp down the urge to make others understand the truth of who she was on the inside. Sam Carlton was not his responsibility.
As he’d explained her relationship to his daughter with the moms, the worry swirling around his gut for the past two weeks rose into a wave of panic that almost slammed him to the ground. Grace looked so much like Sam—like Bryce. He understood it was only a matter of time before she made choices for herself. What if he couldn’t keep her safe?
He hoped he’d given her the foundation she’d need to make the right choices, but many of his decisions had been made out of fear. The biggest one had been keeping Sam out of her life. In doing so, he’d made Sam into someone who was bigger than life for Grace. A star instead of a real person.
As the women surrounding him gently chided and made unwanted suggestions about how to rid himself of the plague of Sam’s influence, he understood their prejudice was as unfounded as his had been.
“She runs a summer camp for disadvantaged kids,” he said tightly to the ringleader of the moms. PTO president and cookie baker extraordinaire, this woman had seemed friendly to him when he first arrived in Colorado. Now her kindness felt supercilious.
“Yes, well...” the woman murmured gently, her tone so sweet it made his teeth ache. “I understand she funds the camp, but I’m not sure I approve of introducing those types of children to our community. It’s easy for her because she lives in Denver. But we could pay the price...” Her voice trailed off and she lifted her brow as if to communicate something she wasn’t willing to say out loud.
“What price?”
“We don’t know the history of the kids, only that they come from questionable backgrounds. Do you really think it’s a good idea to have them near our children?”
He bit back a growl. “They’re at a summer camp, not a training facility for future criminals. They earn a spot at Bryce Hollow and the point is to help them see a way out of the difficulties in their lives.”
Another woman, a plump blond, leaned forward. “I heard she’s going to sell the place anyway. The land itself is worth a ton of money.”
“She’s not selling,” Trevor said through clenched teeth, although he didn’t know that as fact.
PTO mom sniffed. “As long as she keeps those kids on her property and out of our community.” As if realizing the bite of her words, she flashed a smile. “I’m sure you’re keeping an eye on her, and we have faith in your instincts.”
His instincts obviously sucked, because up until a few minutes ago he would have trusted these women with his daughter. A group of judgmental, petty shrews.
“Who knows,” she continued, nodding toward the corner of the room, “what kind of trouble she might bring into your life otherwise.
He followed her gaze to see Sam and Grace talking with the junior high band teacher, Josh Madsen. Trevor had met him only once, a man in his late twenties, tall and unassuming, who also coached cross-country for the school and headed the mountain bike club.
