Page 3 of Forever After Fall

“Staying with your Uncle Bo.” Anson’s answers are always perfunctory.

“Um, it’s up to you. If you’re busy or something’s come up, I don’t need to go. I’ve got a lot going on anyway. Chris wanted to do something.”

“I thought Chris was on vacation.” It’s Anson’s way of talking around the status of our relationship. He doesn’t like Ford knowing how rocky things are between us. Said he doesn’t want him getting the impression that it’s a good way to treat a woman. Which I found equal parts patronizing and charming. A narrow line that Anson always seems to walk.

“His vacation was based on our vacation.”

“I see.” Anson’s eyes flick down to his phone and then back up to me. “So no beach then?”

“I better not.”

He doesn’t say anything else, just gives a quick nod of his head in understanding before he starts to type. His fingers fly over the keys as messages ping back and forth.

“Could you get Ford on Wednesday from practice?” he asks. “It sounds like I’ll have to be out late that night.”

“Sure.” I nod. I occasionally stay late at their house when Anson has a lot of work on his plate and needs more time in the office. Ford is old enough to stay home alone, but he’s just rowdy enough that Anson worries a party will erupt as soon as Ford realizes the power of not having parents around twenty-four seven.

The rest of our family dinner is routine. I finish the dishes. Ford goes to his room to finish homework. Anson passes out on the couch, his phone half dangling from his hand. I go to take it to keep it from falling on the floor, and that’s when I realize how many clues I missed today. Ones that are glaringly obvious when his thumb accidentally swipes the screen as he turns over in his sleep, revealing the open message.

There’s a photo that’s just been sent. She’s wearing a very familiar purple balconette bra. My stomach lurches upward as my interest piques. I scan up to the message above. I shouldn’t. I really shouldn’t. But curiosity killed the cat.

Chloe:

I have another one in blue if you’d prefer

Whichever one you wear you’ll look beautiful sweetheart.

A widower. A single dad. Patience of a saint. Always helping people. Never dating. All the clues were there.

I look down to see him stir in his sleep on the couch, shifting position, his eyes pinching together and then softening again like he’s having a dream.

I lock his phone, feeling guilty for the breach of trust, and set it on the coffee table. I grab the throw that’s on the corner of the couch and pull it over him. He spends way too many nights on the couch instead of in his bed, but then he’s not home often enough to justify making it most of the time. I’m starting to see why.

Anson Briggs has a whole secret second life, and I can’t tell a soul, least of all him, that I know about it.

ONE

Bristol

Nothing makes you more aware of how single you are than attending a wedding. When it’s two of your three best friends getting married in a double tie-the-knot affair, and you’re one of the bridesmaids, dateless because your former boyfriend is in prison with no hope of release for the next five years, it might as well be a glaring neon sign above your head. I’ve had enough of being told, “You should meet my son” and “I know this guy at work who would be perfect for you” to be keenly aware of how close to spinster status I am in this small town.

I’m still trying to have fun despite it. Because, however I might feel about love, when I stop too long to think about it, Hazel and Dakota deserve it. Their families and this town deserve to celebrate the forever kind of love they found. The kind that the rest of us only dream about or read in fairy tales. Just getting a taste of it secondhand by watching them celebrate today is enough to keep one small ember of hope burning inside me.

Then again that might be the whiskey. I’ve had more than my fair share tonight. I notice how little is left at the bar as Jasper, my last single best friend’s older brother, spins me around the dance floor. He’s been keeping me company tonight, helping to fend off the bridesmaid hunters.

“I need to see about making sure they refill the whiskey. I probably should see if Hazel needs help with her dress. Dakota might need a touch-up on her lipstick too.”

“All you need to do right now is dance. Marlowe’s got it handled for a minute. You should have some fun too, you know?” Jasper gives me a pointed look as he reminds me his sister can manage without me.

Jasper and I used to have a bit of a flirtation in high school. It never materialized into more than just casual texting and being each other’s plus-one at a couple of school dances. But on nights like tonight, I wonder if maybe I should have tried for something more with him. Maybe I wouldn’t be heartbroken, and maybe he wouldn’t be one of Purgatory Falls most notorious heartbreakers. Because let’s be honest, his helping me tonight isn’t completely selfless; he’s had his own onslaught of mamas who want him to look at the pictures of their daughters on their phones and grandmas bluntly telling him they’ve got a girl in mind for him.

“I’m having plenty of fun.” I counter what I assume is his worry that I’m pouting over my single status when everyone else is celebrating their paired-up future.

“I have an idea for how we could have some more. And escape all the questions in the process.” He grins, the kind that lights up his eyes and makes hearts do somersaults in chests. I wish mine would try to manage even a quick tumble.

Everyone assumed I dumped Chris when his sentence made it clear he wouldn’t be out for years. But I was ridiculous enough to hang on to the hope that we could make it through them. Maybe there would be early parole. Maybe letters and photos and the occasional visits would be enough. I only made it to the second one before he sat me down to tell me he was ending things. It was too long a time with too many unknowns for either of us to be narrowing down our options when we couldn’t be together.

After all, conjugal visits aren’t a thing in Colorado, and I have options outside the bars he’s locked behind. He made it all sound very selfless. But I hadn’t missed the way the guard had flashed him a bright smile when she brought him into the room. Like she knew he was about to be a free man. At least in one way. Chris was nothing if not pragmatic.