Extraits

“The car is far enough off the road that it should be good for tonight. I’ll come out here with the tow truck and pick it up tomorrow.”

Caine burrowed deeper in his coat, enjoying the heat and the company. “That’s fine. It’s way too cold to be changing tires right now anyhow. I have no idea what happened. It was fine on the way to the bakery.”

“It’s the cold,” Tim said with his eyes locked on the road. “Tires lose a pound of pressure for every ten degrees in dropped temperature. It’s easy to forget that when the weather dips as fast as it did this year. You don’t have to worry. I’ve got you.”

“I know.” Caine really did know. While everyone else had abandoned him, Tim hadn’t. After Mitchell and Sam had disappeared, Caine’s mom had passed suddenly from a massive stroke. Sam hadn’t returned for the funeral, leaving Caine to handle everything alone. Tim had stepped in to help. If not for Tim, Caine wouldn’t have anyone. He was trying not to be bitter. Caine didn’t want to hate his sister. After all, Sam had never gotten along with their mom. She resented being the older sister left to take care of everything while their mom worked to support them alone. It had been hard for everyone. While Caine understood his mom had done the best that she could with the life she had been handed, he was having a hard time putting himself in Sam’s shoes. He tried. She was all the family he had left. Caine wanted to understand why she had done something so awful to him, but he couldn’t. He had never dreaded anything the way he did this upcoming dinner.

The three-bedroom house where Caine had spent many nights came into view. It was decorated for the holidays. A smile tugged at Caine’s lips. The brick home sat on five acres and had lots of beautiful trees, even in the winter. It was picturesque. Every time Caine saw the place, warmth spread through his chest. He knew he should have some weird feelings about the place, but he couldn’t. Caine had spent way more good nights there than bad.

Tim parked under the carport and killed the engine. “I’m glad to see the place is still standing.” Laughter laced Tim’s claim.

Caine looked his way with raised eyebrows.

A huge smile spread across Tim’s lips. “I just remembered I didn’t turn off the stove.”

“Damn. I guess we’d better get inside and make sure nothing is on fire.”