Broken Course (Wrecked and Ruined #3)(83)

I stand on shaky legs and head for the office. When I push open the door, I find Johnson sitting behind the desk.

"You back so soon?" He cocks an eyebrow.

"I need to make some phone calls, but most of all, I need a flight to Texas."





FOR THE first three hours after leaving Leo, I drove around aimlessly. I was in no hurry and had no real direction to follow. My phone buzzed on the seat beside me numerous times. First, it lit up with Leo’s name, then Emma’s, then Casey’s. I ended them all. Instead of talking, I drove to see the one person who I knew wouldn’t ask me any questions.


"I have no idea what the f*ck I’m doing." I admit into the cold night air. "Fuck!" I yell, dropping my knees into the grass. "You’re laughing, aren’t you?" I ask the granite that expectedly remains silent. "Damn it, I miss you Regina Phalange." I trace my fingers over the indentations of Manda’s name on her headstone, tucking my knees to my chest under my jacket.

"That can’t be comfortable," Caleb says, walking up and scaring the shit out of me.

"Fuck!" I scream, toppling over when my legs get stuck.

"Chill. It’s just me." He puts his hands up in surrender.

"Shit, you scared me. Jesus. Don’t sneak up on people in a cemetery in the middle of the night."

"Perhaps you shouldn’t come to a cemetery in the middle of the night, then. It’s not safe."

"Yeah, well. I didn’t have anywhere else to go."

"So I heard. Leo called," he informs me, sitting down on the cold ground next to me.

I scoot over to add a little more space between us. "Did you draw the short straw?"

"Collin’s sick. Emma was worried about leaving him."

I immediately become worried. "Is he okay?"

"He’s fine. The doctor said it’s an ear infection, but he’s running a nice little fever."

"Poor guy," I respond before turning back to face Manda’s headstone.

"Come back to our place for the night. Emma’s way better at this talking shit than I am." He tosses me apologetic smile.

"No, I think I’m just going to a hotel or something. I can’t deal with her tonight. She’ll just lay it all out and make it rational. Maybe I’ll call that Kara chick. She seems like she’d be good guy-bashing company." I laugh without humor.

"I can’t let you go to hotel. Your sister will hang me by my balls."

"Well, apologize to your balls for me, because there is no way I’m talking with Emma tonight."

"Okay, fine. Talk to me, then." He lies down on his back and crosses his legs at the ankle.

I laugh at the idea of having a heart-to-heart with Caleb Jones, but he’s probably going to do the least amount of preaching of anyone else.

"Come on. I can’t go home and leave you here, so start talking and let’s see what bullshit we can figure out."

I sigh. "What’d Leo tell you?"

"Just that you took off and he was worried."

"He has a kid," I say bluntly, and it burns coming off my tongue.

"Okay? I’m assuming you are just finding out about this?"

"Yeah. She’s five. He’s never seen her. But her mom just passed away and Leo’s on deck." I shrug at how simplistic yet sad my explanation sounds.

"Shit," he breathes.

"Pretty much," I say, chewing the inside of my lip.

"So you guys going to take her?"

"There’s no you guys anymore. I basically told him to go to hell."

"Jesus, Sarah. Since when do you have something against kids?"

"Since my fiancé has one with another woman," I answer matter-of-factly.

"Ah, so you’re jealous." He points out the obvious, and I can’t say that he’s wrong.

"Maybe a little. I’m also just pissed that he never bothered to mention this to me. We were supposed to be getting married in a few weeks, Caleb. Now, he’s going down to Texas tomorrow morning to pick up his daughter. Where does that leave me?"

"You?" he questions loudly and it echoes through the night.

"Yes. Me," I confirm.

"Sarah, I’m going to be really honest here. I think you sound like a bitch who has her head stuck up her ass."

I swing my head to face him, shocked that he would be such a dick. Well, that is until I remember who I’m talking to.

"Excuse me." I jump to my feet, dusting the dirt off my jeans. "You have no right to talk to me like that. You don’t know the whole story."

"I don’t need to. You told me the only thing that matters. Leo has a kid who just lost her mother. Honestly, it infuriates me that you two aren’t on a plane tonight. If something happened to Collin, I’d hitchhike across America to get to him if I had to."

"Caleb, it’s not that easy. He never told me about her."

"Well, given the fact that he’s never seen the child, I’m going to assume something else was going on. There’s not a cop in town who doesn’t know Leo spent years in the Witness Protection Program, so I’m going to put two and two together and guess his difficulty in opening up has something to do with that."