Page 53 of Don't Regret Me
He put a hand on her knee and squeezed it before moving it to the steering wheel. She hadn’t told him everything about Nick or this quest to help him, but he understood something wasn’t right with her. Offering him a tight smile, she leaned her head back.
His entire life, Nick would be known for a mistake he never even made. It was all anyone would say of him. They’d claim he got off easy with community service, that Bentley never should have forgiven him. They’d never know who he really was.
And she hated that for him.
“Mom,” Evelyn called from her booster seat in the back.
Liz turned to look at her. “What’s up, munchkin?”
“Are we almost there?”
Owen reached over and pinched her. “We just got in the car, doofus.”
“O, don’t call your sister names.” Both of them had been in a funk for days, arguing over the smallest things. Liz worried her stress was rubbing off on them. They fed off her anxiety, her sadness.
Evelyn rubbed the spot her brother pinched her. “Will there be toys at this lake?”
“We brought some of yours.”
Her face fell. “But I play with those all the time.”
“There’s swimming.”
“We live in Florida, Mom.” She rolled her eyes. “We swim all the time. Why do we have to go so far to do it?”
On a normal day, Liz wouldn’t let her daughter get away with the attitude, but the question rolled through her mind. What was there for her kids at the lake house? She shifted so she could see them both better. “Trust me, guys, the place we’re going is worth it. You’ll wake up in the morning marveling at how peaceful the lake is, how right. It’s the kind of place that makes you wish you never had to leave.”
Her dad looked at her out of the corner of his eyes, his lips twitching as he tried not to smile at her description.
“Your grandmother used to tell me anything was possible in that house.” Had she known how right she was? Those words… possible and impossible… They held a new meaning now. Neither was absolute, and she wondered if it was something her mother learned before she ever got the chance.
Straightening in her seat, Liz leaned her head against the window and thought of the woman who’d adopted her. She’d never emphasized their differences in looks or personality. To her, all that mattered was that they loved each other, took care of each other.
“Still sounds boring,” Evelyn whispered.
Owen stifled a laugh, and Liz shared a smile with her dad. Maybe boring was what they all needed for a while.
25
NICK
How did he do this? Nick looked down at Stephanie for what must have been the hundredth time since stepping up to this front stoop. Sherrie hadn’t returned. He’d tried to reach her repeatedly, tried her contacts in L.A. No one had heard from her.
And for days, he’d done nothing but watch Stephanie and work at the center. The kids there loved her, playing with her in between naps and feedings. Bentley’s kids wanted to hold her every chance they got when he went to their house for dinner.
And him? He wanted whatever was best for the kid. It hadn’t taken long to realize the love he’d nurtured for her before she was born—when he still thought she was his—hadn’t gone away just because she didn’t carry his DNA. Yet, she wasn’t his daughter. As much as he wished she were, she had parents.
One of them was on the other side of the blue door in front of him.
He knew Franklin was home because he recognized his old assistant’s car in the driveway. Before the accident, he hadn’t been exactly kind to the young man. Demanding was more his style back then. He’d started to remember their time together. Hollywood led stars to believe they should have everything they needed at the drop of a hat, and he’d bought fully into that culture. He wasn’t sure what changed him. If it was being humbled by this scandal or something else entirely.
Now, he hated the way he’d treated people. Franklin didn’t owe him anything, but the little girl in his arms? Franklin owed her the world.
With a brief hesitation, he lifted one hand to knock lightly. At first, no one came. Then, footsteps.
A look of shock coated Franklin’s face when he pulled open the door before he smoothed his features into a mask of indifference. “Nick.” His voice sounded gruff, like he hadn’t yet used it today.
Nick cleared his throat. “Can I come in?”
