Page 16 of Tattered (Lark Cove 1)

With my child.

I’d waited too long.

Mistakes weren’t something I made often, especially monumental ones. The knot in my gut told me that waiting to see Thea had been the biggest mistake of my life. And there wasn’t a damn thing I could do about it now. There was no going backward.

All I could do was figure out where to go from here, and for that, I needed to talk to her.

I slowed my pace and looked around, hoping to find some sort of landmark to help me figure out where I was.

The homes here were larger along this road, much larger than anything I’d seen on Willa’s tour through Lark Cove. All of these houses had a beach-cottage vibe, with cedar shakes and white trim. Except they were anything but cottages.

The one I was standing in front of looked almost as large as my parents’ place in the Hamptons. The front was covered with large windows overlooking the lake. The front lawn was green and cut short, like the fairways at my family’s country club golf course.

The gravel road separated the main house from the boathouse built right on the water. Next to it was a private dock and graveled beach area. I’d blindly walked to the one neighborhood in Lark Cove that screamed money.

There wasn’t much to the town of Lark Cove. A diner and Thea’s bar. A tiny grocery store next to a four-pump gas station. Two churches and a ten-room motel. There was one school for kids of all ages, from kindergarten through high school.

And a whole lot of lake.

During her tour, Willa had told us all about this area of northwest Montana. Small towns like Lark Cove were spotted all around Flathead Lake. They all had the same necessities, like a convenience store/market with the essentials. But major stores and anything of real size were found in Kalispell on the north end of the lake.

Lark Cove was basically a cluster of homes along the highway. Local people lived here to escape the city limits. “Out-of-staters” built here for two-weeks-a-year vacation homes. This road had lakefront properties most of my colleagues in New York would salivate over.

Especially this one. I’d buy this place in a heartbeat if it weren’t in Montana.

Except I wasn’t allowed to hate Montana anymore.

Like it or not, I’d have a tie here for the rest of my life.

To my daughter.

Maybe Thea would be willing to move back to New York. If she’d be open to a cross-country move, it would make life a hell of a lot easier.

My phone vibrated in my pocket, interrupting my thoughts. I dug it out of my jeans, assuming it was Nolan, but frowned when I saw the name Alice Leys.

“I can’t deal with this right now,” I muttered, declining her call.

Alice had been one of Emmeline’s friends from college. She also happened to organize charitable fundraisers around the city, so we crossed paths occasionally. For years, I hadn’t paid Alice much attention, not only because I’d been dating Emmeline, but because whenever Alice looked at me, there were dollar signs and sexual positions in her eyes.

But about six months ago, after Emmeline and I had broken up, I’d been in need of a release. Alice had been more than willing to take my cock.

We’d met for drinks and to fuck a few times, but I’d ended it months ago. Her affinity for childish drama had grated on my nerves, as well as the unrelenting pressure to commit to a relationship. But she still hadn’t gotten the message, no matter how often I’d spelled it out.

A voicemail popped up on the screen, but I deleted it without listening. Then I hit Nolan’s name.

“I was starting to get worried that you left me here,” he answered.

“I’ll admit, it crossed my mind.” If I’d had the car keys, I probably would have made it halfway to the airport before turning around.

“Where are you?” Nolan asked.

I spun around, searching for a street sign, but all I could see were homes and trees. “I’m not really sure. I’m standing on some dinky road by the lake.”

“That narrows it down,” he muttered. “Do you want me to come and get you?”

“No.” I sighed. “I’ll pull up my GPS and find my way back to the highway. It can’t be too far. Where are you?”

“Back at the motel. I wasn’t sure what to do when you ran out of the bar, so I came back here to wait.”