only hope was that by doing the right thing for his parents it would keep him focused in the months ahead when the going got tough. Because it was going to. Not a doubt in the universe. His own plans and needs and love would be shelved. Didn’t mean he had the right to ask Brenna to put hers alongside his.
The phone lit up. Bren’s number came up on the screen. Then the ringing began. He pressed Off. She tried again. And again.
Then Hunter did hurl the phone with all the frustrated strength he had. It soared over the back yard, across the fence to land with a splash in the trough.
‘Goodbye, Bren. Love you.’
The back of his hand slashed at his face as he hunched over, letting the rain soak his clothes, chill his skin further. Not caring what happened to him. But he had to. He was needed here. There was no choice.
Six years later...
HUNTER FORD LEANED his shoulder against the doorframe and watched his son’s tiny chest lift and fall under the light bedcover as he slept, and sighed with relief. ‘You’re happier already, aren’t you, my boy?’ he whispered through a thick throat.
Dylan’s grandparents had already started grooming him to be compliant by having him running around after them for the hell of it—something he hadn’t been able to prevent on the days he worked and Dylan didn’t have preschool.
‘You could learn something from him,’ Jess murmured beside him. ‘Stop worrying so much.’
‘You haven’t met Brenna.’
‘Surely she’s not going to kick your butt—verbally or physically?’ Dave’s wife never felt the need to hold back.
‘I’d handle that.’ Might even welcome it. But getting the cold shoulder from Bren would punch him hard. Neither did he relish the idea of being treated like a special friend who needed taking in hand to learn the ropes at the helicopter rescue base. Brenna Williamson. He knew nothing about what she’d been doing since that heartbreaking phone call. Had deliberately shut down on anyone telling him about her. He’d had to or go insane with grief.
Jess swiped his arm. ‘It’s been a long time. You’ve moved on, so will she have. Anyway, you can cope with anything. Look at Dylan. After everything he’s been through, he’s happy because of you.’
Hunter’s gaze was still fixed on that small body in the large bed, despite the picture of Bren in the forefront of his brain. ‘He trusts me to get it right for him.’
‘Get it right for yourself and the rest will follow.’
‘Is that your way of saying that if I’m happy Dylan will be happy?’ That was Jess all over. But, then, she was a psychologist.
‘At last something’s got into that dense brain matter. Now get a move on. You’re due at the base in twenty-five minutes, and even at five-thirty in the morning traffic around Kitsilano is more than what you’re used to.’
‘On my way.’ So much for having breakfast before he hit the road. He’d spent ten minutes watching and absorbing the sight of his son sleeping; Dylan was his world, and one of the reasons he’d returned to the city where he’d been happiest. The first time he’d moved here had been within weeks of leaving high school; his best friend, Dave, right beside him. They were going to conquer the world and put Kamloops into the only-for-visiting-the-olds file.
He’d truly believed he’d escaped his parents. More fool him. His dreams had begun falling into place, then his father had had yet another mental breakdown and he’d been expected to pick up the pieces. Now here he was back again, the dreams altered but still there. Everything he did, worked for, would be about Dylan, not his parents, other than to make sure they were safe and comfortable. His son was not growing up under the weight of his parents’ selfishness.
At last he’d learned to stop feeling guilty every time his father got ill. It wasn’t his fault, and he shouldn’t be expected to give up his life to fix their problems when they weren’t prepared to try and sort things out themselves.
Oh, just call Hunter, get him to do it.
Hunter swallowed hard. Coming here had been the right thing to do. For his boy, and for him. Time to start over with a clean slate. There’d be memories of Bren around every corner, which he’d have to ignore once he got today done and dusted. He was under no illusion. Seeing her for the first time would be difficult. Yet it had to be done, then he’d get on with settling into Vancouver, the place where he’d been so very happy so long ago.
Not that he was the young guy any more who laughed at everything, thought the world owed him, and believed there might be a chance that if he worked hard enough, he might achieve the life he wanted. No, but something from that time lingered and had drawn him back, away from Kamloops and the darkness and frustration that lurked around every corner.
Straightening up, he took one last look at his boy and strode away, his eyes moist. At the front door he paused, said, without looking back, ‘Jess? Go easy on him if he gets upset today, will you?’ It wasn’t Jess who needed reminding Dylan stressed at new settings with new people. It was him who needed reassuring that everyone had Dylan’s back while he went to work. Deep down he understood Dave and his family were there for his son. It was just that he needed reassurance that he had done the right thing, coming to Vancouver.
‘Get out of here, will you? I’m going back to bed to snuggle up to my man for half an hour. When you get out of my hair.’
Hunter was pushed out the door, and the lock clicked behind him.
‘I’m going, all right?’ Not that Jess would hear, but habit had him getting the last word in. Zipping his puffer jacket up to his chin, Hunter slid behind the wheel of his four-wheel drive and backed down the drive.
‘Here I go.’ He headed to SW Marine Drive, trying to ignore the confusion in his head, and failing. Shortly he was going to see Brenna, hear her voice, her laugh, and he had no idea how he’d react. He wanted to be cool, calm and friendly. That’s how he should be after all this time. Once they hadn’t been able to get enough of each other, had believed the future was theirs for the taking. Hunter shook his head abruptly in an attempt to banish those memories, which were probably rose-tinted anyway. He was meant to be looking forward, to settling down in a city he loved, to a life he chose and not one dictated by guilt and strained loyalties.
When he’d decided to make the move west, he’d thought through all the consequences and while accepting he’d once loved Brenna more than life itself, he believed she wasn’t going to be a problem—if he ever saw her. At the time he hadn’t known he’d end up working alongside her for four weeks.
He should’ve turned down the request to work on the emergency helicopters the moment he’d heard her name. Hard to do when the base director had all but gone down on bended knees begging him to give whatever time he could manage, they were that short-staffed. Anyway, he loved emergency medicine. The adrenalin shot when racing out to an accident always made him feel needed and happy to be helping people.
The position he was taking up next month at Vancouver General would have plenty of those moments, but there was something about getting into
