From the Embers

by Aly Martinez

“Don’t you dare stand there and act like you don’t blame me for this. Rob wouldn’t have left me in that house, right? Isn’t that what you said? This was all my fault, right, Bree?” He took a long stride toward me, crowding me in the otherwise empty foyer. “You already said it once. Seeing how I haven’t heard one fucking word from you, I’m not guessing your opinion has changed all that much since then.”

“Right,” he whispered. “So, thanks, but no, thanks. I already blame myself enough without staying here, knowing you blame me too.”

“Please stay here with us,” I cried into his chest. “Just until you get on your feet. You can hate me and I’ll hate you, but we can do it together, okay?”

Having company in hell didn’t change the fact that you were still actually in hell.

“Don’t do that,” he rumbled. “Don’t act like you and Jessica haven’t spent years hatching plans to get me to quit playing. You used to tell my wife I needed to quit wasting my time and get a real job.”

He stood up and peered down at me, his dark gaze soulful and sad. “Look, I appreciate what you’re trying to do. And if you need help with the kids, I will never tell you no. I love them and would do anything for them. But let’s not pretend my music will ever be good enough in your eyes.”

If I’d had my way, she’d have married an accountant.” He chuffed. “She would have been bored to tears. Though she would probably still be alive if she had.” It had been bad enough for me to think vile things of him right after the fire, but to hear him verbalize such a deprecating thought made my heart ache for him.

That man—always a hugger. He rocked us from side to side, more like he was trying to calm a crying baby than slow dance. “We got this, Bree. Me and you. We got this.” And for the first time since our world had exploded, I felt like maybe he was right.

She presented me with a seventy-nine-page binder of rules and instructions, and I told her I would rather live in a tent under the bridge than read the damn thing. She, in turn, told me where to find Rob’s old camping equipment and gave me explicit instructions of where I could shove it before stomping upstairs. I wasn’t really going to move out. Bree knew this. I knew this. Asher, however, called me in hysterics on the walkie-talkie I’d given him for his birthday, begging me not to leave like his dad. That was the last big argument Bree and I ever had. We all slept in Asher’s room that night.

That’s not to mention her reaction when Madison and Asher plotted a sneak tickle attack on her. My job was to pin her arms above her head, just as it had been over a dozen times before. Her face had turned shades of red I didn’t know human flesh was capable of that day. She avoided me like the plague for the rest of the afternoon, only forgiving me when I snuck three red M&M’s into her napkin at dinner.

“You should get new friends. The one you have now is really needy.” The one I have now is sexy as all hell, standing in front of me, dead tired in old Birkenstocks.

Had he still been alive, I would have gone straight to Rob. Demanded answers. Best friends or not, the way he lived his life was none of my business. But come on? Cheating on his wife? The mother of his children? Fuck that.

But carved into my soul for all my days to come was the life-altering moment when a naked photo of my wife appeared on the screen.

Eason exited the pool house, murder written all over his face, I would soon learn that the time had been right before Rob had even died. “Did you know?” he snarled from yards away, his voice echoing off the house. My head snapped back, confusion striking me like a slap. “Did I know what?” He stopped in front of me, his tall, muscular body vibrating with rage. “That your husband was fucking my wife!”

“The passcode is nineteen ninety-two.” Oh my God. What the actual fuck, Rob? Unable to hide it, I blanched. “Yeah,” Eason huffed. “I guess that van wasn’t the only thing he and I shared.”

And as I flipped the page to the next set of their messages, my lids almost as heavy as my heart, the embers of their betrayal suddenly ignited into a conflagration that would consume us all.

“I think Luna might be Rob’s daughter.”

“They played us both. This isn’t on you.” “But it is on me!” He lurched to his feet and sliced his hand through the air, pointing at a closed door. “That is my daughter. That little girl is my entire fucking reason for living, and you’re telling me she might not even be mine? It wasn’t bad enough that he was fucking my wife, but the son of a bitch took my baby from me too?”

“Stop. Eason. Come on. Think about it. It doesn’t matter.” “How does this not matter? He took everything from me. My whole fucking life is a lie. Please God, Bree, tell me how to make this feel like it doesn’t matter.”

“You’re all I have left, Bree. And dammit, you were his too.” As he straightened, I fisted a hand in the front of his shirt. “No, I wasn’t. You know it as well as I do. I was a fucking puppet in his show, and I’m done wearing the strings.”

As his mouth came down on mine, his lips parted, and our tongues shared their first dance, Eason made it clear he was done too. Slanting his head, he took it deeper, sealing our mouths together, but even better, he sealed everything else out. He tasted like nothing and everything as we desperately warred, seeking the control neither of us was willing to surrender.

She leaned into Eason’s shoulder and glared at me, less than thrilled to have been woken up by the sounds of me mauling her father. Okay, fine, so she didn’t know that part, but she was still sleepy and pissed.

Eason stopped at the doorway, his chin meeting his shoulder as he looked back at me. “You coming?” “I’m sorry, what?” “To bed. You coming?”

Fuck them. Bree was mine. My friend, my family, and if I had my way about it, my everything.

There were so many nights when everything hurt and I wasn’t sure I’d ever be able to breathe again. But there you were. With me every step of the way.” I tapped the screen again when it started to dim. “This picture, Bree. It’s not what we have to lose. It’s what I’ve already gained.”

“Eason, I want you. Please.” The magic words.

“In my dreams, you said I wasn’t ready. But I’m ready, Eason. I’m so damn ready for you.” She’d had dreams. About me.

But on the off chance we don’t work, nothing changes. I’ll write a tragic breakup song about you, make a million dollars, and you’ll have to listen to it on the radio every day for the rest of your life. But besides that, we’ll be fine.”

“I’m scared, Eason. I can’t lose you.” “Hey,” I soothed, drawing her into a hug. “I’m not going anywhere.”

At the moment, it wasn’t the stage I was falling in love with. Though I wasn’t sure falling was the correct terminology. Looking back, I’d been in love with Bree before we’d even shared our first kiss.

“Don’t leave me hanging, Sug.” He panted, air heaving as he fought to catch his breath. “That was some of my best work.”

It didn’t matter what he said. He honestly didn’t have to say anything at all. Eason was crazy in the absolute best way possible.

Ohhh-kay. So we were piling into the bed. Together. At five a.m. With the man who he had considered an uncle for the majority of his life who was now my boyfriend. Sure. Why not. Shoot me.

“Mom, Eason’s not even wearing pants. How’s he supposed to go downstairs?”

“So the girls and I had a talk last night.” He flipped the page in his notebook to reveal a crayon rendering of three sad kids—both of the girls crying. Everything was dark, the sky gray and the grass brown. Eason leaned in close and threw his arm around Asher’s shoulders, the tips of his fingers grazing my arm. “What’s happening here?” he asked, the same concern filling my chest thick in his voice. “Well…” Asher blew out a hard breath. “This is a picture of me, Madison, and Luna now.” He turned the page. “And this is me, Madison, and Luna with a cat.” All three of them were smiling. The green grass mixed with pink and purple flowers, and the yellow sun hung high in the sky, surrounded by blue clouds. But it was the orange cat, approximately the size of a small airplane if he’d drawn to scale, that was the center of the picture.

LMAOOO 🤣

“Ash, I haven’t even had coffee yet. Can we please save the cat talk until after breakfast?” “No,” he whined. “Because at breakfast you’re going to make us talk about you and Eason getting married.” I clamped my mouth shut.

“For now though,” Eason continued, “she’s my girlfriend. This means we’re getting to know each other and spending time together. But, Ash, if and when your mom and I ever do decide to get married, and even if we don’t, I’m here for you in every way you could possibly need me. But I’m never going to replace your dad, okay? You already have a pretty amazing dad. Him being in heaven doesn’t change that.” And that was the exact moment I fell all-the-way, head-over-heels, unapologetically in love with Eason Maxwell.

should have come to talk to you about things first. And I apologize for that. It’d mean a lot to me if you gave me your permission to date your mom.” Okay, seriously. How sweet could this man get? Maybe he was the real sugar in this relationship. “I care about her a lot, Ash. I won’t do anything to hurt her.” Okay, so Eason was damn near perfect. Cue. All. The tears. I continued to stare at the far wall so they couldn’t see my face. Asher hummed for a minute. “If I say yes, does it mean I get a cat?” “Nope. But it does mean you get chocolate chip pancakes while we discuss it over breakfast.” “Yessssss!” he hissed.

“All right. Talk to me. How’d that go for you?” There was literally only one answer. Drying my cheeks, I tipped my head back to look up at him. “You’re incredible.”

His embrace drew me even closer. “God, Bree. I love you so fucking much.”

he could be terrifying—just like his mother. Finally, he gave me a curt nod like he was the freaking Godfather. “Can I have candy after lunch?” “Sure.” Anything to stop the interrogation. He grinned. “Is it okay if we use the cushions off the other couch for our fort?” I shrugged. “Works for me.” “Cool.” He sprinted away.

“I’m not sure giving him a mouthful of cavities is the best way to handle your guilt for feeling up his mother.” She pulled out a bag of M&M’s and dumped a few in my hand. “I panicked, okay? He’s a nice kid. But he can be seriously scary sometimes now that he knows about us.”

“He’s working you, ya know? Stop being weird when he catches us. I get not wanting to shove it in his face, but candy isn’t going to change the fact that he’s eventually going to have to get used to us touching each other.” “Bree, he gags when we kiss.” “Yeah. That’s what kids do when their parents kiss. Trust me. He’s happy for us. The kitten you promised to get them this weekend doesn’t hurt, either.”

I’m terrified that, if we keep screaming into the past, the future is going to become nothing but an echo.”

“She’s yours.”

“She’s yours. Luna’s yours. Look.” She shoved the phone in my face, and sure as hell, to a 99.999997 percent probability, I was Luna’s father.

And when we were finally done, we got out and gave Rob and Jessica the biggest fuck-you we had to offer. We walked inside to our family.

Being in love with Eason Maxwell was the easiest thing I’d ever done. I’d spent so many years trying to build the perfect life with the perfect husband, the perfect kids, and the perfect company. But mastering the perception of perfect isn’t the same as finding genuine happiness.

And he wanted me there with him. Therefore, even if I had to go in a pair of jeans and with my hair in a ponytail, carrying all three kids on my back like a pack mule, I was getting on that plane first thing the next morning. Because if Eason wanted me there, dammit, then that’s where I’d be.

“Oh wow. That sounds amazing, but I don’t know if I can do San Francisco. I have kids. Bree has to get back to work and—” “He’ll be there,” Bree interjected, the tip of her high heel landing painfully on my toe. “Just let us know where and he’ll be there.”