dresser, and vanity. Even my old desk. She had moved it all into here, knowing I wouldn’t want their

things. The quilt on the bed was the same one that had been on my bed when I’d left six years ago. It

was pale pink with big daisies all over it.

I was home.

Present day . . .

DEWAYNE

I pulled my truck into my parents’ driveway and parked beside my dad’s truck. Normally, I tried to

come over and visit once a week. The past two weeks, however, I just hadn’t been in the mood.

Momma had broken down and cried the last time I was here, reminding us all that it was the six-year

anniversary of my little brother’s death.

The only way I knew how to deal with that was to get my ass drunk every damn night until I was

numb again. Until I was past the pain, and the empty space in my chest didn’t ache so damn bad. After

managing to stay sober for the past two nights, I decided I had better get back over here to see my

momma before she came looking for me.

That woman had a temper on her, and I didn’t need her coming after me. I wasn’t scared of much,

but Tabby Falco was someone I feared. Loved all five feet three inches of her, but I was terrified of

her. Glancing across the street, I noticed a beat-up white Honda Civic. It had seen better days. Nina Roy

had moved out about a month ago, just a few weeks after her husband’s death. Momma said she’d

gone to Florida. The place had sat empty for the past month. Was someone moving in? If so, that car

didn’t make it look like it was the good kind of neighbors. I might have to stop by and make sure my

parents were safe.

They didn’t need to be dealing with wild parties or a meth house from some trashy new neighbors. I

took a step closer and checked out the license plate. Texas. Now I was as curious as I was concerned.

Who the hell did Nina Roy sell her house to? I never even saw a For Sale sign in the yard. If she’d

rented it, we might really have a problem. Just last week three rented houses just an hour north of here

were busted for meth.

“What you gawking at our new neighbor’s car for? Get in here and see your momma!” I turned to

see my dad standing at the door with it wide open, an annoyed look on his face. Once upon a time I

wouldn’t have felt the need to protect the man. I wouldn’t have thought anything could touch him. But

then he’d had the stroke. Things had changed. I had officially taken over my dad’s construction

company, Falco Construction. Dad just couldn’t handle it anymore. He had always seemed larger than

life, but nothing had been the same since Dustin’s death.

“You met them?” I asked him, nodding toward the house across the street.

He shook his head. “Car showed up. Haven’t seen who was in it. No moving van or U-Haul. Just the

car. Sometime around noon yesterday. Car was gone at two today when I glanced outside, but then it

was back when I went to water the flowers at four.”

This was just getting worse. Someone had moved in without stuff. This wasn’t the best subdivision

in Sea Breeze, but so far it had been safe from things like meth houses. I wasn’t about to let that shit

find its way into my parents’ neighborhood.

“I’ll be right back,” I told him, and started across the street before he could stop me. Not that he

could stop me.

“Get back over here, boy,” he called, but I held a hand up.

“Just a sec. I need to check this out,” I replied, and kept my eyes focused on the door and the

windows. I didn’t want to spook whoever was inside and end up getting shot if they were in there

setting up shop.

Nina Roy should’ve thought about who she was letting move into this place. But then, I wasn’t sure

that woman had much of a heart, anyway. Her daughter had been shipped off shortly after my

brother’s death, never to return. They’d been best friends for most of their lives, and it had progressed

to the relationship stage. Word was, sweet little Sienna had suffered a mental breakdown and they had

sent her off to a facility. No one had ever seen her again. It wasn’t easy for me to accept for a long

time. Much as I hated to admit it, I’d taken her leaving harder than I should have. Especially knowing

what Dustin’s death had done to her. That was one more thing to add to my list of fuckups.

I knocked on the door and waited. I kept my eyes on the doorknob in case it slowly turned. If the

fucker had a gun, I was ready to disarm him. Before I could think about just how I would do that, the

door swung open and a pair of brown eyes were looking up at me with keen interest.

“Hi,” the little boy said, staring at me as if he wasn’t sure he had done the right thing by opening

the door.

This was not what I had been expecting. I hadn’t imagined a family had moved in across the street,

not from the looks of that vehicle. It didn’t look like a family car—it wasn’t safe for adults, much less

kids.

“Hi, your folks home?” I asked him, and he stared at me a moment longer before frowning.

“I don’t have folks. I have a momma, but she’s in the bathroom. She had to go pee. I probably

shouldn’t have answered the door.”

The kid was cute. And he was right. He didn’t need to be opening the door. And giving a complete

stranger that kind of information. If he had just a mother, then the car in the driveway concerned me

for other reasons. If that was all she had, how the hell had she afforded this house? It wasn’t an

expensive house or anything, but I’d think a used rental trailer would have been more in her price

range.

“Maybe in the future you should wait for her to open the door. You got lucky this time.” I pointed

at my parents’ house. My dad was standing on the front porch watching us. “That’s my parents’ house.

I was coming to meet the new neighbors.”

The kid peeked around my legs and looked at the house and my dad, then turned his attention back

to me. “You live with your parents? My momma ain’t got no parents.”

Again, more info than he needed to be sharing. Hell, did this woman not teach her kid not to talk to

strangers and spill her life story? It wasn’t safe.

“Probably shouldn’t tell strangers that, either, little man,” I told him.

He frowned and held out his hand as if to shake mine. “My name is Micah. What’s yours?”

Although he shouldn’t have been telling me his name, I couldn’t help but grin. The kid was a

charmer. I clasped his hand in mine and gave it a shake. “Nice to meet you, Micah. My name’s

Dewayne.”

His grin got huge. “Like Dwyane Wade? You know, from the Miami Heat?”

I didn’t keep up with basketball much, but I knew who Dwyane Wade was. I nodded.

“I wish I had a name that cool. But I would want to be named LeBron.”

“I take it you’re a Heat fan,” I said.

He nodded vigorously. “Oh yeah. I’ll be the best one day. My dad was the world’s best basketball

player. I will be too.”

I thought he’d said he didn’t have a dad. Just a mom.

“Micah?” a soft, feminine voice called.

The kid’s eyes got big and he spun around. “Yeah, Momma. I’m at the door with our neighbor. He

came to visit.”

I lifted my eyes from the kid just in time to see legs. Lots of fucking legs, all smooth and creamy

and encased in tiny little cutoff blue jean shorts. Holy hell. My eyes continued their upward track,

taking in the tiny waist and generous breasts barely covered up by a tank top before reaching her face.

Mary, Mother of Jesus. No. Fucking. Way.

I knew that face. It was older. She was a woman now, but I knew that face. Those bright blue eyes,

all that long, silky red hair, and those pink lips that made men, young and old, fantasize. But this . . .