Everything We Left Behind (Everything, #2)

by Kerry Lonsdale

hazy gray. He’ll only know what Carlos elected to write about in the journals. And reading about it is entirely different from experiencing it. His gaze darts over the remaining cardboard boxes in the garage. The rest are his. He’ll start his after period from scratch and go shopping tomorrow. The locksmith and alarm company arrive after three. While bolts are changed and the alarm system inspected and switched to a new service, Marc paints at the kitchen table. Hoping to appease Julian, James sets up his Xbox. His son declines his challenge to a game and promptly launches into a single-man game of Halo. Julian hasn’t mentioned Señora Carla, and while that worries James, he’s thankful Julian doesn’t want to talk about her. At least not yet. He isn’t ready to talk about his mother either. Underneath the surface, he’s still seething over how she deceived them for five years. But more so, he fears the truth will crush his sons, Julian especially. He was fatherless the first four years of his life, and the father who adopted him doesn’t remember why he took him in. He knows only what Carlos wrote. James needs to handle this situation like a fish caught with bare hands, else he’ll slip away. They eat breakfast leftovers for dinner, and after the boys are in bed, James paces the hallways, desperate for a late-night run. He needs to buy a treadmill. He needs to get out. He grabs a beer from the fridge, pops the cap, and debates calling Nick to join him, as he continues to wander ...