Chapter 12 The Cut He Never Saw
POV COLE MERCER
Rowan asked him to teach her how to ride the old Panhead.
"Your mother will kill me."
"Mom taught me on a dirt bike at twelve."
"Then she will kill us both."
"Family activity."
The word hit him.
Rowan pretended not to notice.
They took the bike only around the rear lot.
Cole walked beside her at first.
"Clutch slow. Listen to the engine."
"I know how a clutch works."
"Humor the old man."
"You're not my old man."
Cole nodded.
"Correct."
Rowan's expression tightened.
"I didn't mean..."
"You don't have to fix it."
She looked at him.
Then started the bike.
By the third lap, she was smiling.
Mara appeared at the back door.
Cole braced.
She watched Rowan turn, shift, and stop.
"Helmet," Mara called.
Rowan pointed at the helmet already on her head.
"Strap."
Rowan fixed it.
Cole laughed.
Mara gave him a look.
"Do not teach her your bad habits."
"I have improved."
"Your exhaust says otherwise."
Later, Rowan went inside.
Mara stayed.
"She called you family."
Cole looked at her.
"Accident."
"Maybe."
He did not let himself hope.
Mara touched the Panhead's tank.
"I almost sold this after you left."
"Why didn't you?"
"Deke offered forty dollars."
Cole laughed.
"He always owed me forty."
Mara looked at him.
"I remember."
The old scar on his arm seemed to ache.
Cole realized they had just shared a memory without bleeding.
That frightened him more than anger.
POV MARA QUINN
That night, Mara found the old leather cut in her closet.
She had not worn it in years.
ASH RIVER KINGS.
On the chest, the stitch holes where OLD LADY had once been removed were still visible.
She had cut the patch off the night Cole left.
Rowan stood in the doorway.
"I've never seen that one."
"Because it smells like 2007."
"That's not a smell."
"It is. Smoke, cheap beer, and men avoiding therapy."
Rowan took the vest.
"Can I?"
Mara nodded.
Her daughter traced the empty stitch marks.
"This where the patch was?"
"Yes."
"You hate that term?"
"Old lady?"
"Yeah."
Mara considered.
"I hated what some men meant by it. I didn't hate what I made it mean."
"What did you make it mean?"
"Partner. Not property."
Rowan handed the vest back.
"Did he understand that?"
"Sometimes."
Mara hung it up.
"Do you still love him?"
The question had been circling for weeks.
Mara sat on the bed.
"I don't know what word fits."
"That's a yes."
"It is not."
"Mom."
Mara sighed.
"I loved him. That doesn't vanish cleanly. But loving someone is not evidence they are safe."
Rowan sat beside her.
"Is he safe now?"
Mara looked at the closet.
At the old cut.
At the stitch holes.
"I don't know yet."
Rowan nodded.
"At least you're asking the right question."
Mara bumped her shoulder.
"You are very annoying."
"Genetic."
Mara laughed.
Rowan did too.
For a moment, Mara thought of Cole hearing that laugh and knowing it belonged partly to him.
The thought no longer felt like theft.
That was new.
POV COLE MERCER
Cole asked Susan Bell how to amend the trust so Rowan would never inherit debt from it.
Susan looked at him.
"You are planning for a daughter you met two weeks ago."
"I'm planning for a legal exposure."
"Of course."
Cole smiled.
He liked that people had stopped congratulating him for basic responsibility.